


Soulless

by kasey1939



Series: Soul [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Cordelia & Giles friendship, Cordelia & Oz friendship, Dubious Consent, Epic Length, F/M, Minor Character Death, Psychological Torture, Season 2 AU, Smut, You Have Been Warned, nearly every chapter has some sex in it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 23:37:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 48,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3997495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kasey1939/pseuds/kasey1939
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angelus wants revenge on Buffy, but he needs to get the girl he's been thinking about all along first. Season 2 AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Finally Free

**Author's Note:**

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**Disclaimer - I do not own any of the recognizable characters, they belong to Joss and all the rest. I make no profit from this, only good friends, so come on and join the party.**

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**A/N - Be Warned this is an Angelus-centric story so there will be all kinds of things here. Please heed all the above warnings and anything else I put here, if I take the time to add it then it must be relevant to the story right.**

“Daddy’s coming home.” 

That was it three simple words and Spike’s whole world gets turned on its head. At first he’d thought maybe Dru was just confused, thinking about old times too much again. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d thought her daddy was coming home when he was nowhere in sight. 

Now, it wasn’t as though he didn’t like Angelus, they were family after all, but it was just that sometimes his single mindedness got them all into a spot of trouble. If Angel was truly about to be no more than a distant memory than he knew exactly what his former tormentor and father figure’s mind was going to be on. Revenge and Buffy, and not exclusively in the order. God help them cause he was certain no one else would. 

Watching Dru dance upon the table with her hands reaching for the imaginary stars above her head he was inclined to believe her, Angel was gone and Daddy was home. 

He was going to be sick. Angelus hated this more than anything else the soul had ever done. All the rescuing of poor innocent humans and puppies or whatever else crossed his path. The taste of rats blood coating his throat. Even the unending power ballads that assaulted his ears for decades without end was better than this! He was forced to watch trapped inside his own mind while the soul in the driver seat used his body to fuck the slayer. Make no mistake it was his body and it was currently being violated. Oh, god she was a virgin, could this get any worse. They weren’t even fucking they were _making love_ somebody just drive a stake through his heart now it would be far more pleasant than having to endure this for one more moment. 

Deciding to focus inward instead of continuing to rail about what was going on out there where he had no control he concentrated on the burning sensation that seemed to almost surround him. Something was changing and it would seem that the soul was too busy screwing the valley girl to notice. How delicious. 

Angelus walked down the alley near his place and tried to understand what exactly had happened. Not that he wasn’t pleased to be free, finally, but how did he get out? He’d been rattling the bars of his cage for just over a century and while he’d come close to the surface a time or two he’d never gotten out before. A few thrusts into a virgin and wham bam thank you ma’am he’s footloose and fancy free. There had to be more to it than that. 

Shrugging and deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth so to speak he continued on his way to find his wayward family. As he turned the corner near the entrance of the Bronze, headed towards the warehouse district and where he was sure to find Spike and his darling girl, he found another girl entirely. 

Cordelia Chase. 

While the soul had been simpering and drooling after the Slayer he’d been trapped inside just aching to get his hands on this beautiful brunette. He could still remember when she’d approached them at the Bronze and that fool had just walked away. Leaving behind a woman who had been just begging for it. Ever since that day whenever they were forced to be around the “scoobies” the soul would watch Buffy and he would watch her. He would just fantasize about her and all the things he wanted to do to that delectable body while the watcher droned on and on about the latest not so big bad to roll into town. Sometimes he would even manage to turn his fantasies into the souls dreams, and boy did that idiot feel guilty about that. His nights spent at the Slayers side whispering sweet promises of forever in her ear between chaste kisses, while his days consisted of drilling the cheerleader in his dreams and soaking up her moans of pure ecstasy. 

“Angel?” She sounded so confused to see him there, and rightly so of course, as far as the white hats were concerned he was supposed to be off with the Slayer all night long taking care of the latest threat to the Sunnydale populous. 

“Cordelia? What are you doing out so late all on your own?” Keep the conversation light no reason to give away the game just yet, after all the games were the best parts. 

“I was here with some friends but you know how it is. What are you doing here all by yourself I thought you and Buffy would be off celebrating her B-day after the whole Judge thing. The two of you did take care of that right? Nothing extra going bump in the night tonight?” He watched her look around the parking lot as she spoke, like her word might summon something from the shadows. He barely contained his laughter at the irony of it all. 

“No, no everything’s just as it should be. Buffy and I already celebrated her big day. Couldn’t sleep had all this pent-up energy so I went for a walk.” He could tell by the way her eyes both narrowed and sparkled in amusement that she understood his subtext. That the slayer just hadn’t been enough to satisfy his hunger, in any sense. 

“Well, I had better get going. Don’t want anyone seeing us together and gossiping about it, the last thing I need is a pissed off slayer in my face first thing in the morning, that is a sure-fire way to ruin a otherwise good day. Goodnight Angel.” 

“Goodnight Cordelia.” See you soon my vixen. He was back and better than ever and it was time he finally got the girl of his dreams. 

He found Spike and Dru in a warehouse like he’d thought he would, not that they’d be staying there long, he had a certain way he liked to live and this just wasn’t it. When Spike had asked about his plans his first instinct was to go after the slayer and make the bitch hurt like she never had before. It was just the principal of the thing; she had to pay for everything she’d done while the soul had been in charge. Then just as he was planning his first move against her, a beautiful brunette kept popping into his head. He just couldn’t seem to get Cordelia out of his mind and that’s when he figured it out. His first move wouldn’t be against Buffy, she could wait, no his first move would be to get his vixen. 

First things first though, he had to get his darling family back up to fighting weight. He couldn’t do anything until he got Spike back on his feet, and Dru off his back. Using his teeth to tear into his wrist and offering his healing blood to his grand-childe, he sighed in frustration. Oh the monotony of being in charge, it was a killer. 

Buffy stood outside of Angel’s apartment and wiped the tears from her face once more. It seemed like she hadn’t stopped crying since last night when she’d woken up alone. She just didn’t understand what had happened. They had been happy and then Angel had just up and left. He was acting just like all those stereotypical frat boys, get what you want and move on. Well she wouldn’t let him, not without a fight, they were in love and love was worth fighting for. 

She thought about knocking but that would only give him the chance to ignore her so she just opened the door and walked right in. He was there of course, it was the middle of the day after all, he was changing his shirt getting ready for when the sun would finally set and he would be free to move about without having to use the sewers and go about his business, looking for another girl to seduce most likely, she knew it was a bit unfair to think that when they hadn’t even talked yet but she was hurt, and he’d abandoned her after taking her virginity. Not to mention her love, but maybe he had a good reason for leaving, maybe something had happened, with new hope in her heart for her love she called out to him. 

“Angel.” 

He looked over at the sound of his name, though she knew he’d known she was there even before she’d come in. Vampire senses were good at that. 

“Oh, you’re here, again. What now?” 

How could he be so cold to her? He loved her more than anything, didn’t he? He’d said he did. Or maybe that had just been a lie. 

“Why are you being like this?” 

“Like what?” 

“So … mean. Was it something I did? Was I not good?” 

He had walked right past her to cross the room and get a necklace that she’d never seen him wear before. Come to think of it she’d never seen him dress like this before at all, he looked good better than usual really, but he looked so different. 

“No, you were good really I thought you were a pro. I just need space that’s all.” 

“Why are you saying this to me?” How could he be so hurtful, after everything they had shared. Not just last night, but all of it, their entire relationship that they’d fought so hard for and now he was just tossing her aside. 

“Look, don’t be like that.” He walked towards her hand outstretched to touch her face, but she turned away, she didn’t want him to touch her she wanted her Angel back the one who loved her more than anything else in the world. “I should have known you couldn’t handle anything real. It’s not you it’s me.” 

He was smirking as he said the last like he was making fun of her or something. Her heart was breaking and it was like he didn’t even care. 

“Angel, I love you.” 

“Yeah, love you to, see ya later.” 

Turning his back with an extra pep in his step he left without even looking at her. Looking at his bed the last place she’d been truly happy she curled up on it and cried. 

Angelus couldn’t believe the slayer was being so pathetic. ‘Angel I love you.’ Well if she loved him so much then how come she hadn’t noticed yet that Angel was gone? Then again, her weeping would make the game he’d decided to play all the more satisfying. Her inability to hide even the simplest of emotions, would make this all the sweeter. 

Speaking of sweetness, he had someone to find, and a very different game to begin. Whistling to himself he strolled down the alley towards his new destiny, how sweet it is. 

Buffy was miserable and she didn’t care who knew it. In fact, she seemed to want everyone to know it and that was just too much for Cordelia. My god she was the defender of the human race and yet here she sat in the high school library crying her already puffy eyes out over her boyfriend. What the hell was wrong with this picture? 

She couldn’t help but think about her run in with Angel the night before. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something had been wrong with Angel, the entire walk back to her car she tried to put her finger on it and failed. The entire time they had talked it had almost seemed like they were having two different conversations at the same time and he looked far more amused than she’d ever seen him before. Broody boy just hadn’t been brooding like normal, though that could have been because of Buffy’s little birthday present to him. Then she came to the library this afternoon as was becoming her habit, against her will and better judgment, and found this pity party going on. 

So, it would seem Angel hadn’t been very subtle about how little his birthday night with poor pitiful cry Buffy had meant to him. Harsh yes, epically earth shattering enough to ruin HER Friday night, not even remotely. Yet somehow here she was playing support system to someone who really needed to just get over it. Like she was the only one who’d ever been treated like crap by her man after he finally got what he’d been after all along. 

“You should just get over it already.” 

Everyone turned to look at her in shock. What like she wasn’t just saying what they were all thinking? 

“What? Like you weren’t all thinking the same thing.” 

“Cordelia, while your help has been, unique to say the least, maybe it’s time you went home.” Giles always had a way of making things sound so logical, it was probably the accent, so she found herself nodding her agreement without really thinking about it. Halfway to her car she thought maybe he’d just been trying to get rid of her. Oh well, either way she was beyond glad not to have to deal with Buffy’s little drama any more. 

She had just put her hand on her car door when she heard something behind her, turning around she was prepared to scream as loud as she could, maybe Buffy would be able to rouse herself from her self-pity enough to fight something. The scream died in her throat when she saw it was Angel behind her, not some monster. Thinking about how her night had gone so far and whose fault that was she got really angry at him and just wanted to slap his smug face, but it was such a good-looking face she settled for just slapping his chest instead. 

“God, you scared me half to death. Not to mention you completely ruined my Friday night! What couldn’t let slayer girl down gently? I have spent the last two hours sitting in the freaking library listening to her moan and cry about you! Do I look like I care? No? That’s because I don’t!” Was that a look of satisfaction? Why would he be happy that Buffy was miserable weren’t they supposed to be like a forever love or something? 

“I would apologize but I find I don’t really care either.” 

There was something different, she noticed it a little last night but tonight it seemed more in your face. Not only in the clothes he was wearing, which were way better than the ones he usually wore, but there was something about his expression to. It was almost like he knew something the rest of them didn’t and he found it amusing that they hadn’t figured it out yet. Her math teacher had that look a lot. 

“There’s something different about you. What’s changed? I mean other than your relationship status.” 

“Don’t worry you’ll figure it out eventually. Telling would just spoil the surprise. Have a nice night Cordelia.” 

Normally she’d respond in kind but there was something about his tone that just gave her the creeps. Instead she just turned and quickly got in her car driving off towards the safety of her home where no vampire could enter at top speed. 

When she finally made it inside she felt the knot that had been building in her stomach loosen and finally all the tension in her shoulders went away. She didn’t know why she’d reacted so badly to Angel, it was Angel for god’s sake, but for some reason just being around him made her afraid for her life. 

Shrugging it off as an overreaction from living in Sunnydale for so long with the things that go bump in the dark she made her way up to her room. Seeing her door open she tried to remember if she’d closed it that morning or maybe Rosa had put her laundry away and had forgotten to close it behind her when she’d left for the night. 

Walking right in she froze in her tracks a scream lodged in her throat. There on her bed was Rosa her housekeeper, her throat ripped out and blood everywhere. Surrounding the body all over the room were roses that at first glance looked red but she could see specks of white on a few where the blood had dripped away to reveal their original color. On the wall above her bed where the body lay was a message written in blood.

****  
Just my way of thanking her for the invitation  
See you soon my vixen  


Finally she couldn’t hold back the scream any longer.

Angelus stood outside of Cordelia’s home and waited. When her scream finally filled the air he smirked. Step one complete now on to step two and he was sure that Angel’s help would be required to help with this newest crisis. 


	2. Somewhere to Stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel gives Cordelia a helping hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemon warnings, here there be sex. If you're uncomfortable with that you should just jump ship now because it gets dirtier and dirtier the farther you go.

Cordelia showed up at school still wearing the same thing she’d worn the night before, after finding Rosa she couldn’t bring herself to go into her room yet even to get something from her closet. She’d just buy new clothes.

Making her way straight to the library she stopped outside the doors for a moment to compose herself, before breezing through like normal. She needed help and she had a feeling that this was a Buffy kind of problem, the message on the wall had all but screamed vampire after all.

No one was there. What? They were always here, like the lifeless nerds they were, where the hell were they? Finally Giles came out of the stacks carrying a large number of old dusty books as usual.

“Good, Giles you’re here I kind of need Buffy’s help where is she?”

“Buffy has decided to take the day off from school to deal with her, well with her emotional, crisis that she’s experiencing right now.”

“You mean the Angel thing?”

“Yes.” He seemed almost relieved that she’d understood what he was trying to say.

“Still? But I need her!”

“Cordelia while I’m sure that whatever crisis you are having seems very life or death to you I believe we need to give Buffy a little time to get back to being herself.”

“Yeah but -“

“Cordelia please, I am very busy with research and I have a staff meeting to go to, I would appreciate it if while I was gone you found somewhere else to be.”

He left! He just freaking left. Are you kidding? She is having an actual honest to god situation here and everyone is too busy with Buffy’s love life to help her. That was just so… so… so… her luck these days.

Fine if no one else would help she would do this herself. How hard could it be? Turning back to look at all the books she wondered where she would find the one about her problem. Maybe under D for dead maid?

“You should have seen the look on her face. Priceless.”

Angelus had just finished moving his family into the abandoned mansion that was their new home and now they were talking about what to do next while simultaneously snickering about the slayer.

“A real kicked puppy, eh?”

“Worse and it looked like she’d been crying for days it was hilarious.”

He’d given Spike his blood when he’d first gotten back, couldn’t have Dru’s sitter benched now could he, so now he was up and mobile again. What to do, what to do?

“Let’s hit the Bronze I feel like partying.” Not to mention, his vixen would probably be there as was her usual. The body and roses had been a good opening move, but now it was time to follow that up with something a little different.

The three of them headed out Drusilla already swaying to music that only she could hear.

Cordelia sat at her usual table at the Bronze, she’d already sent the Cordettes away, and she was not in a party mood right now. The only reason she was even at the Bronze was because she didn’t want to go home yet. As it was she was camping out in her parent’s room at night jumping at every sound.

“Cordelia?”

“Angel.”

Well at least someone wasn’t avoiding her. She’d tried to talk to Giles again but he wouldn’t even let her tell him what was wrong he was so worried about Buffy who’d gone MIA that he wasn’t interested in anyone else’s problems. Same thing with Willow and Xander not that she thought they’d be much help any way.

“What are you doing here by yourself, where are your usual adoring fans?”

“I sent them away I’m not really in the company mood.”

“Oh, do you want me to go?”

“No, you can stay, I just have a bit of a problem and none of the losers will help me out. All too busy trying to find Buffy who’s up and disappeared on them.”

Again with the self-satisfied smirk, like he was happy to hear about Buffy’s trouble with their breakup. Assuming they did break up, it was just as likely that the reason Buffy was MIA was because the two of them had kissed and made up, that is what people in epic love did right, they would fight and then they made up and started again.

“What problem?”

Taking a deep breath she couldn’t stop the shiver that ran down her spine at the memory of Rosa. Looking around to make sure no one was listening to them she steeled her resolve to tell him about it.

“I think a vampire killed my housekeeper, Rosa.”

“Really? How do you know it was a vampire?”

“I don’t exactly but there was a message on the wall about how her death was in thanks for her invitation. So vampire.”

He didn’t have that God you’re so stupid look, so obviously her logic was at least in the realm of the possible.

“Wait, wall, where was she killed?”

“In my bedroom. I know right? Ick much. I haven’t been back in there since I found her I’m like living in my parent’s room. I tried to tell Giles about it and ask him what to do but that was a no go thanks to cry Buffy. So, I tried to do some research myself but I got bored like ten second in boy those old guys were really long winded.”

Angelus couldn’t stop smiling she was such a hot mix of sexy and innocent. She was sitting with the very vampire she was so afraid of and had no idea. He thought about telling her, but this was so much more fun. He decided to wait and see who figured it out first, plus being safe helpful Angel had some advantages.

“Cordelia you realize this means this vampire can come into your house whenever he wants now right.” And he would, often.

“I know that’s why I wanted Buffy or even one of the other losers to like do something about it, but of course they were too busy to even listen to me today. Maybe I could stay with a friend? Or hey, maybe I could stay with you! Like one vampire won’t mess with another right?”

He could barely contain himself. This was just so perfect.

“Sure Cordelia, you can stay over.”

“Perfect.”

Cordelia had never been inside Angel’s place before so she took the time to really look when they finally got there, turns out he didn’t live that far from the Bronze. There were books of course, and some art, but what really interested her was the bed. As in singular only one.

“So where-“

She never finished before his lips were on hers. What? Wasn’t he with Buffy? But oh the way he was kissing her was just driving all the thoughts out of her head. He wasn’t like the boys she was used to. Teenage boys fumbled and asked permission. He asked for nothing he just took what he wanted.

“Wait, wait, wait aren’t you with Buffy?”

He reached up to cup her face before letting his hand drift down gliding over her curves as he went.

“Does it seem like I’m with Buffy?”

“Well, no but-“

“There you go you got your answer, now-” He picked her up forcing her to automatically wrap her legs around his waist as he pinned her against the wall, “where were we?”

He started kissing her neck while she clawed at his shoulders. Her mini-skirt had risen when she’d wrapped her legs around him so his jeans were rubbing against her silk panties cause such amazing friction. Oh, God it felt so good! To hell with Buffy!

“More please!”

He had her. He knew it wouldn’t take much; his vixen had wanted him since the moment she’d laid eyes on him after all. And the fact that the slayer was hiding in his closet watching, he could smell her tears, made it all the better.

Tossing her on his bed he followed after her prepared to give a good show and wondering if the Slayer would watch the whole thing or if she’d break down and come out.

Buffy couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She’d spent most of the night at Angel’s place waiting for him to come home so they could try and work this out. She’d gone into his closet and was smelling his shirts that smelled so strongly of his sent when she’d heard the door open.

Thinking it was him she’d nearly come running out when she’d heard a woman’s voice. Cordelia? Looking through the small crack where the door wasn’t completely closed she saw Angel, **her Angel** , kiss Cordelia. Then they did so much more. When she’d heard Cordelia ask about her she’d held her breathe hoping that he would come to his senses and kick that slut out on her ass but instead he’d just said that she didn’t mean anything to him at all.

She watched as he tossed her onto the bed, their bed, and she just couldn’t tear her eyes away. This couldn’t be happening.

Cordelia had never felt like this before it was like her entire body was on fire. He had reached up and pulled the neck of her shirt down pinning her arms to her side and baring her breasts to his view and the look on his face when he’d looked at her it was like he’d been waiting for this forever.

At the first stroke of his tongue across her nipple she arched up towards him and couldn’t stop her moan of ecstasy. Just when she’d thought it couldn’t feel any better he pulled her other nipple completely into him mouth and sucked. Oh God!

Releasing her he blew on her breasts causing her nipple to tighten under his gaze the sound of his laugh driving her insane almost as much as the things he was doing to her body.

“Angel please, don’t stop!”

“Don’t worry we’re just getting started.”

“Oh God!” That was the last coherent thought she had for a long time.

Angelus held a sated and sleeping Cordelia to his side while he feigned sleep waiting to see what the Slayer would do now. He’d smelled her tears throughout his entire time with Cordelia but also her arousal. Little miss goody two shoes had gotten off on watching him fuck someone else.

Hearing the closet door open he peeked out to see what she would do. He was more than capable of taking her if she decided to attack but he didn’t think she would. Looking at her face he saw so many emotions he nearly laughed. It would seem she didn’t know what to think about this.

She’d headed towards the door at first before hesitating for a moment then turning to head to the bed. She stopped beside it and simply stared, not at him but at Cordelia, interesting. He’d made sure that the sheet was down around her waist leaving her breasts bare and on full display. He’d done it so that he could look at them, and play with them, later that night. It would seem that the Slayer also wanted a peek.

He watched her stare at Cordelia’s chest before looking down at her own. Beautiful she was feeling inadequate and rightfully so; she had nothing on his vixen and never would. To think that if she’d simply gone to school that day and listened to Cordelia about her little vampire problem this whole things would have turned out differently.

Deciding to have a little more fun with her he shifted slightly in his “sleep” and brought his hand up to cup Cordelia’s breast pulling her slightly closer.

Finally she turned and left tears streaming down her face again.


	3. Plans in Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angelus starts to arrange everything the way he wants it. So many games to play, so little time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has SMUT, also some mind games and death of minor OC people but you only see the aftermath presentation, none of the actual violence is shown.. or written I guess. Also there will be sex in nearly every chapter so if you don't like that you should probably find something with a lesser rating to read.

Cordelia made her way towards her locker with a little spring in her step that had been missing for a while now.

“Wow, Cordy, someone’s in a good mood today. What happened last night? You get lucky?”

“Please, Harmony, he got lucky.”

The laughter of her friends at her boast nearly made her feel normal again. She felt kind of bad about what she’d done with Angel for about a micro-second, then she remembered that he and Buffy weren’t together anymore so it wasn’t like she was poaching.

Opening her locker to get her books for her next class, a dozen white roses spilled out at her feet. Seeing them reminded her of Rosa which, if the hand drawn picture taped to the back wall of her locker was anything to go by, was the whole point of them. She stood frozen to the spot, roses at her feet and the picture of the maid’s dead eyes staring at her as her friends laughed and joked about secret admirers and felt sick.

Slamming the door shut she made a quick incoherent excuse before fleeing to the bathroom as fast as she could. She made it just in time to lose her breakfast. Oh God what the hell was going on? She stayed kneeling on the cold tile floor waiting to see if she was okay enough to stand when she heard the bathroom door swing open.

“I’m telling you Willow it’s true I saw the whole thing.”

“It’s not that I’m doubting you Buffy but I just don’t think Angel would do something like that. I mean he’s your guy, you two are like you know forever, there’s no way he’d go for Cordelia after that.”

The little red headed bitch made it sound like she was something stuck to the bottom of her shoe. Of all the nerve. She was Cordelia Chase reigning bitch queen of Sunnydale High! Who wouldn’t prefer her to Buffy? No one that’s who! Angel proved that well enough last night. And what the hell did miss weeps a lot mean she saw the whole thing?

“I wouldn’t have believed it either if I hadn’t seen them together with my own eyes. She was all over him like the slut she is. The only thing I can think is that he’s trying to make me jealous and she was the first easy lay he came across. I mean it’s not -”

The rest of the conversation faded as they left for class. What the hell was going on? It was like she was in the freaking twilight zone or something! She’d planned on going to them for help especially after the locker incident, but now forget it. She didn’t need them anyway she had Angel! Which was more than that blonde loser could say.

Angelus paced around the mansion unable to stay still for more than a few minutes at a time. This always happened at the beginning of a hunt like this, he was the same way with Dru back in 1860. He’d already had Cordelia physically and if their morning fuck before she rushed home to get ready for school was anything to go by he would have her again, and again, and again if he wanted.

Oh he definitely wanted! She was amazing in bed, so out of control he couldn’t wait to truly be himself with her, to dominate her in every way. This was a long game he was playing though so he had to be a little more sedate than normal for a time, which was fine he had Dru and any number of nameless victims to vent his darker desires on until he got her where he wanted her. No, his Vixen was already partly his, he would addict her to the pleasure he could give her while courting her, he hoped she appreciated the roses and drawing he left for her today. Eventually though he would tell her the truth about who it was she was running from. How she was running from him right into his bed. Then once she was truly his he could focus on the slayer.

Looking at the clock he guessed he had about another two hours before school was out and she came running right into his arms. He couldn’t wait; he was already hard with anticipation. He needed to burn off some energy before then so he could remain in control.

“Drusilla, bring daddy someone to hurt!”

Dru was dancing around their room singing as she only ever did for her daddy. Part of Spike wanted to be bitter about the attention Angelus was getting from his princess, but he knew it wouldn’t do him any good. Plus with his latest obsession well underway he knew it wouldn’t last long. Once he had his new toy chained to his bed he’d forget all about Dru, like he always did. Then he would get his dark goddess back. He could wait, she was always worth it.

Giles didn’t know what he could have done to ever deserve this. Yes some of the magic he’d practiced in his youth made him deserving of the worst corner of hell, but no one deserved this. He looked over at the crying teenage girl that was his slayer and again prayed for an end to this torment. It seemed like she hadn’t stopped crying for days, and as with most men, he had no idea what to do when faced with a weeping female.

At first it had been that Angel was missing. Then it had been that Angel had dumped her callously. Now it was that Angel had been with another girl, Cordelia if he understood correctly. That he could believe, that girl had no care for anyone but herself, it was hardly beyond the pale that she would do something like this. Offering the girl a cup of tea, he tried to figure out a way to gently send her home to her mother who he was sure would be better equipped to handle this situation.

Angelus stood outside Cordelia’s house and couldn’t stop smirking, as he remembered the last time he’d been there and the look on the maids face when she’d finally realized that she was about to die. God he loved that look! He’d thought that she would come running to him after school to tell him about the surprise he’d left in her locker but it was nearly ten at night now and there was no sign of her so instead he decided to pay a visit under the pretext of checking on her out of concern for her safety. She was being stalked by an evil vampire after all.

Ringing the doorbell he waited for her to answer. He’d thought about just jumping up to her balcony and letting himself in, but as far as she knew he had never been invited into her home before. When the door finally opened he was confronted with a very furious woman. Oh he loved it! Such fire, he couldn’t wait to tame her. But first time to learn what had lit that fire now. His gift should have frightened her not sent her into a fury like this.

“You! This is all your fault!”

“What are you talking about? Did something happen today at school?” He needed to play this right. Angelus knew that if he seemed like he knew more than he should the game would end far sooner than he wanted it to.

“Oh yeah, you could say that. Not only did I get the sickest most deranged secret admirer gift in my locker today but also cry baby buffy apparently saw us together yesterday and is spreading it around that I stole you from her. Not only that but she and her little band of no life nerds were all beyond stunned and surprised. Apparently after the epic love that is you and blond bitch queen of the universe shared you would never lower yourself to be with me. Me! Cordelia freaking Chase! They’re acting like that bottle blonde skank is better than me.”

He was beyond furious that they would ever think something like that. To even compare that emotional train wreck of a slayer to his vixen was laughable, but to find her lacking was down right absurd. They would pay for that along with everything else they had done lately to piss him off. He wondered briefly if he could get away with tormenting them and courting Cordelia at the same time? Maybe, it wasn’t like they were all on speaking terms at the moment anyway. He could keep the two completely separate and by the time the scoobies figured things out enough to ask Cordy about it she would be his in every way and they would be too late. But those were plans for another day. For now he had more immediate concerns.

“How exactly is that my fault?”

“Because you had the bad taste to be with her in the first place, so it’s your fault that she’s being such a thorn in my side now.” He liked her logic.

“Cordelia please, could… could you invite me in so we can talk about this?” Yes, please invite me in a second time. He loved this game.

“No!” Oh, look a challenge, he loved those to.

“Please, Cordy, I want to apologize properly and I can’t do that from out here.” He watched her head tilt as she squinted at him in curiosity, he almost had her.

“Apologize how?”

“By showing you just how much I prefer you to Buffy.” He added a smoldering leer to make sure she understood his meaning clearly.

He watched her lean more heavily against the doorframe as she subconsciously began to rub her legs together to try and soothe the ache his words had caused. Oh, yeah, he had her beyond hooked. Even the suggestion that he might want her made her wet enough to tremble with her desire. The war behind her eyes was fascinating to watch. Part of her wanted to hold on to her anger and to send him on his way for daring to cause her to be compared to Buffy in a negative light. The rest of her wanted nothing more than to lay down then and there legs spread wide in invitation as she begged for it. He already knew which impulse would win, but the battle was fun to watch none the less.

“Fine, this better be one hell of an apology, come on in.”

He crossed the threshold with a silent internal shout of victory. She had invited him inside of her own free will. Now even if she did ever catch him in her home she wouldn’t be suspicious of how he got his invitation.

Without breaking stride he raised a hand, wrapping it around her pretty little throat in seconds, and dragged her to the side pinning her to the nearest wall there. He watched her eyes widen fractionally in fear and instinctive panic causing his already hard cock to get even harder. He let that panic run free through her body for a moment enjoying it before he leaned down his mouth devouring hers.

Within moments that fear became need and that panic became arousal. He shoved his leather clad leg between her legs spreading them farther apart. All the while he never took his hand off her throat, enjoying the fact that at any moment he could start to squeeze and bring that fear and panic rushing back. The kiss was delicious but he began to feel her moving urgently and he felt her movements against his leg. Focusing on the sensation for a moment he quickly identified it. His vixen was humping his leg.

“Someone’s eager.”

“God yes, I want it now, I want to feel every inch of you inside me!”

Who was he to deny such a heartfelt plea?

Freeing himself he reached under her skirt, oh he loved these skirts of hers, then he quickly shifted her panties to the side just barely exposing her sex. He saw it the moment the cold air touched her moist center. Her eyes widened in wonder and desire, she wanted more. Seeing no reason to deny them both any longer he entered her to the hilt in one thrust. Her panties rubbing against his every inch as he went. The sensation was amazing!

“Please!”

More begging he loved begging. He thought about drawing this out and making her beg more but he decided against it. He wanted her too much and they had the rest of the night for games, right now was to ease the craving that the day apart had created. Every thrust was more powerful than the last making her scream louder and louder. When she finally came she dug her nails into his back deep enough and hard enough to draw blood. The moment her nails pierced his skin he was lost to his own release.

They both sagged against the wall for a moment, each trying to catch their breath, her more than him of course.

Picking her up he carried her upstairs to her bedroom laying her down far more gently on the bed than he had the maid he’d killed there just days before. She was so out of it she didn’t even realize where he’d taken her, and with what he had planned for the rest of the night she most likely wouldn’t notice until morning. Kneeling at the end of the bed he spread her legs wide giving him an almost unobstructed view of what was now his. She laid there quietly still detached from the world around her while she tried desperately to regain both her breath and her sanity.

Deciding to have a little fun with her he dipped his head down and licked along her sensitive flesh. Her first orgasm had been so powerful that even now as he ran his tongue along her opening he could feel her aftershocks and tremors. Stabbing his tongue inside of her body deeper and deeper he felt the tremors grow more and more until another orgasm hit her this one blinding her to everything around her and all sensation save for what he was doing to her.

As it hit he turned his head to the side, his game face already on but hidden from her sight by her own raised knees, and he sank his fangs into her thigh taking his first true taste of her. The feel, the pleasured pain, of his fangs breaking flesh sent her even farther from reality seeming to draw out her orgasm even longer.

Every mouth full of her hot spicy blood only made him crave more, he kept telling himself to stop but for some reason he simply couldn’t. One swallow of her blood leading to the next and then the next. Finally finding the will power to pull back he found her still breathing but unconscious. Perfect.

That hadn’t been the nights plans but he supposed he could go and see to some of the others while she slept and come back later to finish the night. Yes, that’s what he would do. He had a slayer and some slayette’s to begin torturing. They would regret the way they treated his vixen, yes they would regret it most dearly.

Buffy sat alone in her room fuming. She’d tried to talk to her mother about this but she just didn’t understand, of course that could be because she didn’t have all the facts, it wasn’t like she could tell her mother everything after all. All her mother said was that she and Angel had broken up before he and Cordelia started anything, like that changed anything! Yeah, sure she and Angel had been fighting before his little brain freeze moment with Cordelia, but that didn’t mean that his hooking up with her wasn’t like an epic betrayal. She didn’t blame him of course, no he had been hurting over their fight just as much as she had and Cordelia had taken advantage of him, she blamed her. They could and would get past this though, it was only the one time after all, and mistakes like this one only made bonds like theirs grow even stronger. They were meant to be together and they would be again, as soon as he got over his obvious guilt about this one little mis-step and came back to her. She would give him another week to beat himself up over his Cordelia shaped disaster, then if he still hadn’t found the courage to face her she would be the better person and offer forgiveness before he had to ask for it.

At first she’d been hurt and had started to doubt herself. After all for everything else that she might be, Cordelia was beautiful there was no denying that. She’d actually started to doubt Angel’s feelings for her, something else that was all that bitch’s fault, but then after talking to Willow about it she remembered one important thing. She and Angel were epic! Epic did not end because of a stupid one night stand like he had with Cordelia Chase.

Angelus stood outside the Summer’s residence and still couldn’t decide what he was going to do. The entire walk over here from Cordelia’s place he’d tried to come up with the perfect first step. He needed something that couldn’t immediately be traced back to him, but that would tie in nicely with what he’d already done to Cordy. He needed to make it obvious that it was all done by the same person so that when they finally started speaking to one another again they would immediately see just how much their pettiness towards Cordelia had cost them. If they had been speaking to her from the start then this never would have happened. The added guilt and self pity that was guaranteed to stir within those do gooders would be a nice little bonus to the emotional and psychological trauma that the deed it’s self was sure to inflict.

Hearing laughter he turned to see the neighbors from across the street coming out of their home obviously headed out for a good time. Perfect.

Cordelia woke up alone in bed and thought that maybe he had left, it would be just like a man to stop by for a booty call then sneak away after all. It had happened to her before. Rolling over on to her back she stretched trying to work out the soreness of her muscles, Angel was such an animal in bed he always left her feeling every second of their time together for days afterwards. Thinking she would do good with a hot shower she rose as gracefully as possible with legs that weren’t working just right at the moment and made her way towards her private bathroom. Stopping outside the door she heard the water already running and smiled. He was still here.

She thought about being angry that he had placed her back in her own room. The same room she hadn’t stepped foot in since the death of her housekeeper, but knowing that she was about to see him again was enough to wipe away all of her anger. She knew that what she was feeling for him was bordering on the not so healthy, but she couldn’t stop. No one had ever treated her like this before, he acted like she was his entire world, and she didn’t want to give that up anytime soon. Pushing the door open she resolved to make the most of this while it lasted. She knew he would most likely go running back to Buffy eventually but for right now he was all hers and she would revel in it.

Angelus heard the steady beat of his vixens heart increase as she woke up alone. He thought about cutting his shower short, he’d already gotten all the blood off after all, and joining her again. Before he could make up his mind he felt her moving closer until she stood on the other side of the door. He wondered for a moment if she would have the courage to join him, most teenage girls wouldn’t, but then he remembered who this teenage girl was. Cordelia Chase wouldn’t have any problem joining him in the shower if that’s what she wanted to do. Judging by the sound of her hand on the door knob that’s exactly what she wanted to do.

The bathroom was a simple design really, the main feature was the shower which was separate from the bath. The shower it’s self covered the entire back wall and had no less than ten separate shower heads, it was several feet wide and had an opaque glass wall seperating it from the rest of the room. The glass wall was sectioned into two sides each of which could slide soundlessly one way or another to let you in or out.

He turned to face the glass doors but tilted his head back as though washing his hair and closed his eyes against the water, giving her the perfect view when she finally stepped in with him.

Cordy slid the glass aside and stepped through, her eyes took a moment to adjust to the steam rising from the hot water falling everywhere. When she could finally see without her vision being blurred she felt her heart stop beating and the very breath in her lungs seized almost painfully. God he was just too hot for words.

He stood beneath the spray of the obviously hot water, his skin slightly flushed from the heat despite his being a vampire, the water cascaded down his body highlighting every muscle and holy god he was amazing. His eyes were closed and with the water it was possible he hadn’t heard her come in, smiling victoriously her eyes filled with mischief as a plan began to form in her mind.

He stood there for what seemed like eternity while she still didn’t move. He thought she might be losing her nerve and if that was true he didn’t want to open his eyes and frighten her. So instead he simply waited. He knew what she saw when she looked at him, his skin flush with his recent feed and kill, water running over his entire body. What made her pause? He guessed from the way that her heart skipped a beat that she was either admiring his body or she was suddenly nervous. The question was which was it.

He didn’t have to wait long to find out. He had been so busy with his musings that he hadn’t sensed her movement. By the time he’d registered that she wasn’t where she had been before she was already on her knees before him. Oh, he like this turn of events. Slowly opening his eyes as though only now feeling her presence he looked down at her slightly widening his eyes as though startled. As soon as his eyes found hers she held his gaze and ran her tongue along him from head to base. Never once blinking or breaking eye contact in any way she slid the tip into her mouth about and inch and sucked.

Oh Lord! Reaching behind him with one hand he braced himself against the wall and waited to see what she would do next.

Her hand came up and gripped his shaft and began to slowly pump up and down, without much pressure at all. He was about to demand she grip him harder when she popped the head of his cock out of her mouth all together. He couldn’t stop the growl that built in his chest. Acting like she didn’t hear it she suddenly changed tactics. Her hand tightened on his length and her pulls became more forceful while her mouth began to work on his balls.

He was in Nirvana. Most women, especially women her age, focused on the penis and ignored the balls all together, not her apparently. She really was a little sex kitten. He lasted and embarrassingly short amount of time, but he still never took his eyes from hers. When he finally came he watched as her throat worked to swallow every drop of his cum.

When she was finally done she sat back on her heels and licked her lips like a kitten licking cream. He loved this woman he really did. His vixen.

Pulling her up he kissed her fiercely tasting himself on her lips.

“God you are amazing you know that.”

“You’re only saying that cause it’s true.”

“Definitely.”

“Since it’s friday, do you want to spend the weekend?”

Now she dropped her eyes, not daring to make eye contact. The other side to his tempting vixen, the insecure teen. He loved every side to her and soon she would know that and wouldn’t fear asking him things like this at all, because she would be sure of his answer from the start.

“Sounds perfect.”

Buffy was dozing peacefully, thanking anything and everything that is was Saturday so she didn’t have to go to school this morning. Lazy days were the best.

“Ahhhhh!”

Her mothers scream hadn’t even died on the air yet when she found her at the front door, having raced down the stairs in record time convinced her mom was being murdered or something. At first she didn’t see what had caused her mother to go so pale with shock and fear. Stepping around her to get a better look at what was on the other side of the door she stopped just as frozen as her mother was.

There on her front porch were her neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Fitz. They had been in their early twenties when they’d been alive, a newly wed couple just starting out in life. Now they were barely recognizable.

There was one on either side of the front door like his and hers bookends. They had both been posed on their knees hands tied together in front of them propped up by the piece of fence protruding through their abdomens. They looked like they were begging for mercy, or maybe praying for salvation. Their eyes had been pinned open with needles making them stare sightlessly back at their home, the place where they had been safe and alive just the day before. Blood had welled up and spilled over like tears. The strangest part was that inside their mouths each of them had a single white rose.


	4. Confrontations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angelus and Cordelia add a new aspect to their relationship and the Scoobies go head to head with Queen C.

Cordelia was humming to herself as she searched the fridge for something to eat. It was Saturday morning and she was deliciously sore and starving to death. It had taken quite a bit of persuasion on her part to get Angel to let her out of bed long enough to hunt for food. Honestly the man was acting like he hadn’t had sex in forever.

Taking out the ingredients for her salad she began to think about her “relationship” or whatever this was with Angel. She knew she should still be beyond pissed with him for what being with him was putting her through with Buffy and her sidekicks, but for some reason she just couldn’t hold on to her anger when she was with him. As long as he wasn’t around she could fume and bitch until she was seething mad, but the second she looked into those dark haunting eyes her rage just evaporated like it never existed.

Plus, they seemed to be basing their entire thing on sex, they never went out on dates, or talked, or really left whatever reasonably flat surface they were using at the moment to scratch that mutual itch. She would be insecure and start to think that he was embarrassed to be seen with her but two things stopped that train of thought before it ever got started. One, he never took saint Buffy out either, so it was really just an Angel flaw that he never thought about those kinds of things. To be honest if she was as old as he was she might not think about them either. And, two, the most important and reaffirming reason there was, she was Cordelia Chase, no one would be embarrassed to be seen with her.

She was finished with her salad and was just putting the bowl in the sink when another thought hit her, this one only a single word. Blood. She didn’t have any, well any pigs blood anyway, there was nothing here for Angel to eat. It was daylight out and unlike his apartment her house didn’t offer ready access to the sewer system, thank god for that one, so he was stuck here with no blood in sight at least until the sun went down. What could she do about that? There had to be something she could do. Maybe she could offer to go to the butchers for him, a quick meal run or something.

She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn’t hear him enter the kitchen, Angelus could tell because she didn’t so much as twitch to acknowledge his presence behind her. He wondered briefly what she was thinking about so hard, but he let it go in favor of slipping his arms around her and letting his hand push beneath her loosely tied robe to cup her breast. God, he loved her body and she was just as insatiable as he’d thought she’d be. There was no satisfying his vixen, not completely anyway, and that was more than alright with him.

“Mmmm, Angel.”

That however was annoying. He couldn’t wait until the truth finally came out so he could hear his name on her lips. He ran his other hand down her curves to her thigh and began to slowly draw it back up again dragging the hem of her short silk robe back up with him. He was reaching for her dripping sex when her hand caught his wrist and stopped him.

What?

“No, wait there’s something I wanted to talk to you about and if we start with this I’ll just forget and this is something we should totally talk about. Okay?”

Fine he’d play along if this was so important to her, but if it was something stupid he promised himself he would continue on with his own plans for how to spend the rest of the day. Mainly with her laid bare beneath him begging and screaming.

“Alright, what did you want to talk about?”

“Blood.”

What?

“You want to talk about blood?”

“I want to talk about my lack of blood actually, well my lack of blood in the house, well my lack of pigs blood in the house for you to drink.”

Alright making more sense now, barely, but enough that he could finally catch on to what was happening now. She was worried because she didn’t have any pigs blood for him to drink. He hadn’t drank pigs blood since he’d returned to being himself, but she didn’t know that, so her concern while misplaced was kind of sweet.

“Oh, are you worried I’m going to bite you?” To late on that front princess I already tasted you, not that you noticed.

“No! Of course not, I just I don’t know what happens to vampires if they don’t eat every day. Like my friend Jennine in middle school if she didn’t eat every day or if she like skipped a meal she got like totally bitchy. But don’t worry I have an idea.”

He was about to tell her that vampires could go a few days without blood and the only thing that would happen is that they would start to get steadily weaker so waiting for nightfall wouldn’t hurt him. But she looked so bright and proud of herself when she announced that she had an idea that he just had to hear what she was thinking about.

“What’s your idea?”

“Well, my other friend Mandy was always on this like Jenny Craig type diet, but sometimes she would be stuck having to eat like normal people food or whatever but that didn’t hurt the diet since it was only every now and then right. So I was thinking that maybe you could drink some of my blood.”

She looked so hopeful and yet at the same time she looked resigned like she thought he was about to tell her all the reasons why that was a stupid idea. If he’d still been Angel, he just might have done just that. Then again if he’d still been Angel he’d still be panting after Buffy and wouldn’t be here in the first place. If he were a better man he would turn down the offer and tell her that he would be fine until sundown. But he was Angelus and everyone knew he was not a good man at all.

He couldn’t stop smirking at the thought of tasting her again and this time of her own free will. He was going to enjoy this.

“That’s a nice idea Cordelia, thank you, but I couldn’t ask you to do that.” Wait for it.

“You aren’t asking, I’m offering.” Gotcha.

“If you’re sure.”

“I’m positive.”

“If we do this I insist that I bite you somewhere that Buffy and her friends won’t see. The last thing we need is for them to try and but even further into our relationship.”

He watched her eyes brighten when he said the word relationship and he knew he had her. She was his body, mind, and soul now. Next step would be to start slowly introducing her to the real him and now was as good a time as any to do that.

“Like where?”

“Well,” he stepped forward and gently pushed the sides of her robe apart causing the belt around her waist to loosen even further and bare her breasts to him. Cupping her breast in his hand he ran his thumb across her nipple and watched it harden in arousal. “No one would see it here would they?”

It was as much a statement as a question. She belonged to him no one else would see his bite because no one else would see her like this.

“No, no one else.”

He felt a shiver ripple through her body and he knew he had her. Bending down he captured her other nipple in his mouth and began to suck playfully at it. The feel of her hands in his hair gripping him tightly against her body holding him to her only made him want more.

Picking her up he turned them, never once releasing her breast from him mouth, reaching out to the marble counter in the middle of the kitchen he swept his arm across it clearing it of clutter. He heard the spices and knives hit the tile floor but he didn’t care, all he cared about was the woman in his arms. Laying her across the cold surface he felt her body shaking and knew she wanted this just as much as he did. Pulling her robe open even more he finally released her to straighten up, looking down at her he saw her laid out before him like a feast fit for a king.

She was breathing hard, trying to catch her breathe but she couldn’t, he wouldn’t let her. Gripping her legs just behind her knees he opened her up even more and watched as her juices dripped down her thighs. Oh yeah, she wanted this just like he did. Leaning over her again he let his game face slip into place, and waited for a moment while she explored it with her fingers, giving her time to decide if this was what she truly wanted. When her hands fell away she locked her gaze with his own and arched her back thrusting her breasts up towards him invitingly, offering herself to him. Without hesitation he swooped down and claimed his prize.

Cordelia didn’t know what she expected, everything she knew of vampires told her that this would be agonizing. Seeing his true face had almost made her falter but then she remembered that even beneath all of that this was still Angel, and she trusted him. When his fangs finally pierced her skin she tensed for the pain but got only pleasure.

His mouth working at her breast sent fire coursing through her veins, making her feel so alive. At the same time one of his hands was playing with her other nipple pinching and rolling the sensitive flesh between his skilled fingers, while the other hand was busy stroking her pussy. Oh god she felt like she was on fire. She couldn’t concentrate on just one sensation they were all working together to drive her insane. Raising her hand she gripped his hair tightly as she raised her hips silently begging for more. She wanted more than just his fingers, she wanted all of him and she wanted it now.

In response to her pleas she felt him bite down on her breast harder and with one more powerful pull of his mouth she was cuming like she never had before. This was what she’d been missing in her life and now that she’d felt it she didn’t think she could ever go back to living without it. His bite was orgasmic.

Angelus straightened and looked down at his vixen again with wonder, she tasted so good and she’d been so amazing that she’d actually made him come in his pants like a stupid teenager. Watching the beads of blood well up along his bite he leaned down to lick it clean once more wanting to savor the taste of her and not waste a drop, just in case this was the last time he would be tasting her like this for a while. It was always hard to tell how someone would react to being bitten. When his tongue touched her breast he heard her moan and knew exactly how she felt about this.

“More. Please.”

She was as addicted as he was and he knew she would be offering herself to him again soon, and he would always accept such a tempting offer. She tasted orgasmic.

Buffy sat at the table of the coffee shop and tried to understand what had happened to her life. Her birthday had been special and amazing, but now everything had crashed down around her. Her mother was in shock over finding their neighbors like that, her boyfriend was still MIA, Cordelia had sex with said boyfriend like the slut she obviously was, and now she was sitting at a coffee shop surrounded by her friends on a much needed break from trying to identify whatever big bad had left her such a terrible present.

“I don’t get it what was the point of it though. It wasn’t like whoever it was even tried to fight me they just left them there like presents or something.”

“Pretty demented present if you ask me.”

Duh, of course it was demented, they were dead bodies.

“I’m stuck on the white roses myself. Why white roses?” That was a good question, and one of the main reasons she loved Willow so much, she always knew what to say.

“Oh my god how pathetic.” Just what she needed right now Cordettes.

“Pathetic Harmony? How so?”

“Well, first you go around talking about how Cordy stole your honey like anyone would care about that, not that anyone’s surprised really I mean if it came down to a choice between you or Cordy of course he chose her. I mean look at you. But now you’re trying to make people think you’re stealing Cordy’s secret admirer in retaliation. Yeah, pathetic.”

“What are you even talking about, we weren’t even talking about Cordelia or her admirer, whoever the hell that is.” Would it kill them to listen to a conversation before jumping in with their two cents? Then again considering what they’d been discussing she was sort of glad they hadn’t.

“Of course you were, why else would you be talking about white roses, that’s what Cordy’s admirer leaves her. Losers.”

Without another word they walked away secure in the knowledge of their superiority, which was fine with the trio at the table they were to shocked to have noticed them if they had stayed anyway.

Cordelia was getting white roses? Was that a coincidence or was it connected? Gathering their stuff the three prepared to go to Cordelia’s house, they had questions and they would damn well have answers.

Monday morning found Cordelia sitting in her car in the school parking lot trying to get her mind out of the clouds it had been in all weekend. She and Angel had done things she had never even heard of before all weekend long, age really did come with advantages she guessed, practice certainly made perfect in her book. Buffy and the wonder twins had tried to intrude and ruin things but she wouldn’t let that happen, refusing to even answer the door.

She’d known that if little miss perfect had seen Angel in her home then everything would come crashing down and she didn’t want that to happen, she’d been far to happy to allow something like that. Her refusal to answer the door only seemed to amuse Angel and he soon had her naked and begging for him while the three stooges stood out front yelling for her to let them in. He pounded into her while saint Buffy pounded on the door and she loved it. To her it was just further proof that his feelings for Buffy were beyond gone now.

Taking a deep breath she stepped out of her car and prepared to face the day. After the weekend she’d spent in Angel’s arms the fact that she was rapidly losing her place in the Scoobies inner circle didn’t bother her nearly as much as it would have before. Not that she would ever admit this to anyone else for as long as she lived, but being a part of their little group and helping people, even if only by helping buffy in some way, made her feel important. It made her feel like she had a purpose in life, almost like she had a place that couldn’t be taken from her and before Angel she would have done anything to stay there like that. Now, though, she didn’t mind at all if they froze her out because she had him.

She hadn’t even made it to the front doors before they were there blocking her path, demanding that she pay attention to them.

“Cordelia where the hell have you been? We tried to reach you all weekend! We need to talk.” Of course she should have expected this, but for some reason she’d thought they would have given her at least the morning to herself without their stupid yammering for her attention.

“What could we possibly have to talk about?” Seriously, they had all been avoiding her and freezing her out for weeks now, ever since she and Angel became a thing, and now they were demanding that she do as they say. As if.

“White roses.”

Two words, that’s it, and all the warmth left her body in a rush leaving her nearly shivering from the cold in her very bones. Images of Rosa’s dead body, the picture of her lifeless eyes, the roses turned red with blood, all flashed before her eyes in an instant erasing her good mood just as quickly.

“No.”

“What? What do you mean no? Cordelia this is important.” The condescending tone did nothing to improve either her mood or her answer.

“I mean I’m not talking to you about this.”

Without another word she turned and left them standing there looking after her with identical looks of shock on their faces. She was through with needing their help she had Angel now, he would keep her safe.

Angelus came into the mansion that he and his family called home for the first time in days.

“Daddy’s home!”

“Hello princess, have you been a good girl since daddy’s been away?” He watched her hands run up his chest slowly feeling every inch of him.

“Will daddy punish his princess for being such a naughty girl?”

He had intended to turn her down after the weekend he’d just spent with his vixen he wasn’t in need of a woman like he was before. His dark beauty had done everything he wanted her to, acting out his every fantasy about her, which of course only led to him having even more fantasies about her.

Then he saw little William behind her and he just couldn’t help himself, he had always felt this deep need to screw with Spikey ever since the first time when he reacted just so beautifully. He didn’t hate the little bastard, not really, they were family after all he just always reacted in such a big way it was just too much fun to pass up.

“Yeah princess, don’t you worry daddy’s gonna punish you real good.”

Never taking his eyes off Spike he threw Dru down on the table in the center of the room and gave her a good hard dirty fucking, what she always craved from her daddy ever since he taught her to like it just like that. Soon enough his vixen would crave his attention just as badly and that day would be beyond sweet for him. His plans to slowly guide her down the path of darker desires would start tonight and soon enough he wouldn’t even have to tell her what he wanted to do to her, she would simply offer herself up for the taking, just like his darling dark princess, begging to be punished and loving ever moment of it.

Cordelia knew that going to the library was a mistake but Giles had used his pull as a member of the faculty to have her sent there during the last class of the day. If she skipped out she had no doubt that he would get all pissy and have her given detention or something equally stupid.

Breezing through the doors like she always did she wasn’t surprised to find the room packed with people she no longer had any use for. Giles, Buffy, Willow, Oz, and Xander were all waiting with identical expressions of superiority, except for Oz who seemed to only ever look zen and at ease.

“What do you want? What could possibly be so important that you’re interrupting my education?” They all knew that she wasn’t really worried about her education but still it was a valid point.

“Cordelia, would you please sit down? We need to discuss recent events because it has come to our attention that there is a correlation between things that have happened to yourself and things that have happened to Buffy of late.”

“Yeah she gets flowers in her locker and I get corpses on my porch that’s totally connected.” Buffy’s snide remark made her a little curious, so she decided to give in gracefully and to hear them out, at least for the moment, she took a seat next to Oz the least hostile of the group, and waited.

Waiting seemed to be the name of the game since everyone else held their silence as well, please like she was just going to volunteer information now, after trying to do just that for days before.

“How about I start then.”

“Good idea Giles.” She still hadn’t forgiven him for just blowing her off when she first came to him for help on this very issue. The looks of anger only grew in intensity at her comment.

“Saturday morning Buffy’s mother came outside to fetch the morning post and found their newlywed neighbors killed and left on their front steps. They were staged quite obscenely, their hands bound before them as though begging for mercy and most intriguing of all they each had a single white rose in their mouths. When Buffy and the others were discussing the events at the mall,” the look he sent the three making it clear what he thought of that turn of events, “your associates Harmony and the others overheard a portion of the discussion and made mention of your admirer who has been leaving you white roses. Now we are here to ask you about that if you would be so kind as to enlighten us.”

Wow, when she’d thought about all the reasons why the three idiots wanted to talk about white roses this hadn’t even been on the list. She felt bad for that poor couple, she really did, but she couldn’t just let how they treated her go. It just wasn’t in her nature.

“No.”

“I’m sorry no?”

“That’s what she said this morning, I told you Giles she’s being completely impossible, not that that’s such a huge surprise or anything.”

That was it! She’d had it! Lurching to her feet she went to storm out of the room before changing her mind and turning back, they really should know what’s been happening she thought, so they could truly see how much of this was their own god damn fault.

“You want to know why I don’t want to talk to you about this? Because I already tried to do that! When I came home to find my housekeepers _dead body_ in my bed surrounded by white roses that were so covered in her blood that at first I thought they were red I came here to you and what did I get? ‘Cordelia I know that whatever crisis you have going on seems like life and death to you’ but Buffy is too traumatized by losing her virginity to a guy that doesn’t really give a shit, like every other girl in this damn school has before, that we really don’t have time for you so just go home and die all alone so you can stop bothering us. Then since I didn’t want to go home yet and surprise, surprise didn’t have anywhere else to go I went to the Bronze so that for at least a few hours I would be surrounded by people and at least safer than I would be at home _alone_. While I was there I ran into Angel who unlike all of you actually noticed that I was _scared_ out of my mind and asked me what was wrong, when he realized that she was killed in my house he offered me a place to stay. Then when we got to his place he kissed me, after he and Buffy broke up of course, and we hooked up.

“When I got to school the next day I open my locker for it to start raining white roses all over me and the floor and when I look up there’s a picture of Rosa’s dead eyes taped to the back of my locker just staring at me. After I was done losing my breakfast, I was going to come here and once again try to _beg_ for your help but what do I hear while I’m trying to get my shaking to stop? I hear Buffy and Willow talking about how they know Angel and I were together the night before and how he must just be using me to make her jealous because it’s apparently a widely known fact that compared to Buffy I’m just a giant slut who no one could ever possibly want to be with in a million years. You’re right I’m the one being impossible here. Angel and Buffy broke up! I didn’t do anything wrong, but all of you have been treating me like I’m some sort of homewrecker and I’m sick of it. They were dating, not married. Now if you don’t mind the bell’s about to ring and I have places to be.”

Not pausing to see what they would do with this new information she rushed away from them and towards Angel who she was sure would be stopping by that night.

Giles watched Cordelia leave with mixed emotions. Shock, denial, surprise, guilt, and disappointment being chief among them. Turning to look at his underage charges his ire showed on his face as he prepared to get some answers. None of the teens could meet his eyes, save for young Oz who was looking at Willow with much the same expression as he was sure he was wearing himself.

“Is what she said true? Have you all been disregarding her of late?” He knew he was just as guilty of placing Buffy’s emotional crisis above all else during the past few weeks, it was he she had all but quoted in her tirade after all, but for her peers to do the same was somehow far worse.

“Giles, come on I mean she was the one who stole my -”

He did not let her finish what she was about to say. Buffy may be the slayer but at times he seemed to forget that she was also just a teenage girl and she saw the world just as any other teenage girl would.

“She stole nothing, in fact if what she said was true you and Angel had already parted ways before she and he engaged in any sort of romantic liaison.”

“Yeah _technically_ , but we would have worked it out, and we’d have already been back together by now if she hadn’t-” Buffy tried to defend her actions again.

“No Buffy, this is not her doing. She is not the reason that you and your beau are no longer together. He did not cheat on you, she did not betray you, and you have no right to act as though Angel choosing to be with her is in any way a malicious act against you on her part. She was being stalked and terrorized by a creature of some kind, and because of this petty feud if Harmony bloody Kendall hadn’t overheard your completely inappropriate conversation at the mall of all places we would have still been in the dark about the connection to Cordelia and all of us making our feelings of allegiance to Buffy known to keep her at bay, would have done nothing more than ensured that we were never aware of these actions made against her.”

Buffy rolled her eyes and tried to tune Giles out, it wasn’t like it was her fault that Cordelia didn’t want to be around them at the moment. Just because she was feeling guilty about sleeping with Angel, as she totally should, that wasn’t her fault at all. Besides where was the big, they knew about it all now so it wasn’t like she really got hurt or anything. Looking towards her friends she saw in their eyes that they were in complete agreement with her inner thoughts and felt vindicated by their agreement.

Oz saw the thoughts in their eyes before Giles did, being a teen himself and having spent time with the three of them more often of late he knew what to look for, and he knew just what to say to freeze them in their tracks. At least for a moment.

“What if she’d died and we didn’t find out about the roses until after she was gone? How would you have felt about your freeze out then?”


	5. Headspace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where is everyone's head at after the last chapter...

 

  


 

Giles swirled his glass of bourbon idly as he thought of the days events. Cordelia was being seemingly stalked and preyed upon by some unknown evil and his slayer was too busy fretting over her former boyfriends activities to care. He needed to impress upon her the seriousness of what was going on, but he still had no idea about how to get through to her.

While she was extremely powerful and she had faced many hardships already in her young life she was still at heart a seventeen year old girl. Normally when her focus would wonder to trivial matters such as dating, popularity, or other matters of the sort he was able to steer her back to her calling by simply reminding her that lives were on the line. He did not see that working this time however, because for the moment the life on the line was one she did not seem too fond of. He hadn’t the slightest idea about what to do, his young charge was shirking her responsibilities in favor of holding a grudge, and there was nothing at all to be done about it.

He supposed he could offer his own assistance on the issue, and he would do so come the morning, but from the venom in the speech given earlier where his own careless words were all but spat back at him he doubted his help would be accepted. He only hoped that one of them saw sense soon enough and realized the absurdity of the entire situation. He hoped that alone would be able to sustain him through this coming long and dreary night.

Willow stood outside Buffys home in shock, Oz had just left, they were in the middle of an argument and he just drove away. Okay, so maybe there was a little more to it than that, but still he was making with the not here, and that was just wrong.

All she had done was support her friend, by making one little comment about the backstabbing little traitor who had slept with said friends boyfriend, and Oz had just lost his mind. He started saying stuff about how she needed to grow up and look at the whole picture instead of automatically taking Buffy’s side just because Buffy happened to be her friend. She was very grown up everyone always said so, and she was sure if she took a step back like he said she would still see that it was Cordelia in the wrong, come on it was Cordelia after all. Plus, Buffy and Angel were epic and you just didn’t walk up and mess with epic, that was like a rule. A girl rule, but still a rule, and you shouldn’t break any rules.

He was the one in the wrong on this, and being the better person and the grown up here, she would just sit back and wait for him to come to his senses all on his own, and she wouldn’t even say I told you so not even once. Okay maybe once, but again that was like another rule or something.

Glancing from side to side at her best friends she supposed things could be worse. He could have dropped her off at home alone instead of here with her two besties.

Buffy trudged through her front door, Willow and Xander on either side of her, her feet dragging along the ground with every step. She was totally in the right here and that boyfriend stealer still got all the support, how was that fair? Willow and Xander were still on her side she knew, but Giles and Oz had totally defected on her. Not that she really cared so much about where Oz’s loyalty was in the whole mess, after all he was really only in their little group because of willow and as a non founding member his say wasn’t all that much after all, but still. As Willow’s honey he should support his girlfriend in all things and as Willows best friend he should totally be on her side in this like automatically.

How had everything gotten so turned around? Before Cordelia had gotten there and made her little speech everyone was firmly in the we love Buffy, we hate Cordelia column of things. After little miss perfect breezed out though all of a sudden she’s the bad guy. Cordelia slept with Angel, what did it matter when it happened? All that should matter was that it happened at all, right? Right!

“Buffy honey we need to talk, could you come in here a moment please?”

“Sure mom.”

Oh no, her mom had that time to be serious voice, the one she always got after reading those parenting or self help books. Giving her friends a mock grimace she waved them both off to her room to wait while she dealt with the latest parental meltdown coming her way.

Xander sat quietly beside Willow in Buffys room and tried to understand where all the judgment was coming from with dog boy and the G-man. Not that he really wanted Buffy and dead boy to be together or anything, cause he so didn’t, but still what Cordy did was just so… Cordelia. Being selfish, underhanded, and just down right cruel was pretty much her brand or something. Yeah, what she had done fit Cordelia perfectly.

Sometimes he wondered if maybe she was a demon or something, kind of like when he wondered if Snyder was really a gremlin in disguise, yeah sometimes you just knew these things deep down. Deep down he knew that he, Buffy, and Willow were right and everyone else was wrong in this. Now he just had to bide his time and wait for everyone else to see it to. Until then though he had homework and chores to deal with. Tonight was going to be dull, he just knew it.

Cordelia was fuming by the time she finally pulled up in front of her home, how dare those social rejects act like she was the one in the wrong here. She was totally in the right! Stopping to take a deep breath she closed her eyes and decided to let it all go before she stepped into her house, she would not carry her anger over the threshold, because through that door waited Angel. Or at least he would be through that door after the sun set, but starting out angry was not how she wanted this evening to go.

Before he left the day before her lover had hinted that he wanted to try something new with her tonight, and considering how well all of his other little “experiments” in the bedroom went for her she was all for it. Tonight was going to be amazing she just knew it.

Angelus looked at his Vixen with equal parts lust and pride, she was truly fearless. When he’d gotten to her house she’d been so wound up about a run in with the slayer and her little circle of do gooders, though she had tried to let it go and push it aside before he got there, that she would have done anything he asked of her. He recognized her eager agreement for what it was of course, the scoobies were pushing her aside and so she was clinging to the one person she had left in her life who knew about the things that go bump in the night, him. She saw him as her salvation, her protector, and she would do anything not to lose that.

Plus there was the fact that she had enjoyed everything he had done to her so far and she was just adventurous enough and she trusted him enough to try anything he suggested when it came to their sex life. He was fully in control of her and he loved it. He used to think that what he’d done to Dru had been the most amazing thing he would ever experience but his time with Cordelia was eclipsing it in every way. Taking someone against their will felt empowering, but having someone offer themselves to you of their own free will was an even greater high.

Looking down at her, where he had placed her on the bed, he felt his lust rising to new heights. She was amazing like this and he wanted to savor the sight for a moment longer.

He had stripped her naked and layed her down in the center of the bed, her hands secured to the headboard leaving her stretched out and at his mercy. The thick black blind fold over her eyes was a stark contrast to the white thin sheet he had draped over her body and watched as it molded to her form like a second skin, both hiding her and revealing every curve at the same time. It was time to begin.

Cordelia didn’t know if she was in heaven or hell. Her hands were stretched out above her head so far it was putting a slight but significant strain on her muscles, she felt every shift of her body. Not being able to see what was happening around her was somehow making her more aware of everything, especially the feel of the cold sheet pressed against her hot skin. Oh god. She wanted more, she wanted him to touch her to feel his hands on her. He was so silent it was almost as though she was in the room alone, though she knew he was still there her skin tingled where she knew he was staring at her. Deciding she really wasn’t very good at being passive she let out a deep throaty moan of want while she arced her back trying to entice him to touch her. His laughter told her he knew exactly what she was trying to do but she didn’t care as long as it worked.

Touch me! She wanted to shout it to the rooftops, to beg him to take her, but she wouldn’t give in that easily where would be the fun in that.  
She felt a slight tug at the sheet and she moaned again as it was slowly pulled down, the cool fabric dragging against her hardened nipples causing sensation after sensation to shoot through her body, but it wasn’t enough, she wanted more.

His mouth closed around her nipple and sucked her cool flesh into his warm mouth. Yes! After a few seconds of attention he pulled back and sat up straddling her, she could feel his weight on her stomach but he wasn’t touching her. No!

“You and I are going to play a little game Cordelia. Do you want to play?”

“Yes, please, anything everything.” she bit her lip and arced her back again inviting him to do whatever he pleased with her as long as he touched her again.

“Hahaha, I see you like the idea. Your part of the game is simple just tell me when you really can’t take anymore, and enjoy this. Don’t try to hold back on me though, I want to hear everything, I want to know how you really feel.”

She thought about his words as best she could while her mind felt like it was going to explode with how badly she wanted him then she felt it – ice.

He was holding an ice cube against her nipple. He swirled it around her rapidly cooling flesh making her whole body shiver with want. Oh god. Her nipple had already tightened to the point of pain and every pass of the cube was felt throughout her whole body.

“Oh God, yes. More. It feels so good.”

She knew she was beginning to beg, but after everything her pride could take a flying leap for all she cared, she needed more.

“Angel please! It’s too much I can’t-”

She didn’t finish the sentence before the ice was suddenly gone, she had a moment to feel both relieved and disappointed before his mouth latched on. The warmth of his tongue running across her puckered nipple made her whole breast tingle. Oh!

“Please! I need -”

Again she didn’t finish her sentence before a new sensation was added to the already overloaded mix. While his mouth worked at her abused nipple she felt more ice begin to drag against the other. The mix of ice and heat along her chest nearly fried her brain. It felt so good.

“Oh, please please please don’t stop. More, I want more. I want you! Please I want to feel you inside me.”

“Not yet my vixen, not yet.”

She was so far gone that the use of the word vixen didn’t even register in her mind, the only thing she knew was that she was going insane with want.

“Ahhh, please it’s too much.”

She felt him shift slightly above her as the ice disappeared again, and his mouth abandoned her other breast. She couldn’t hold back her moan of need. She was just about to start begging when she felt it again. Ice. Only this time it was circling around her clit. Oh god.

Before she could really register that sensation his hand trailed up her body to her recently abused nipple and began to squeeze it between his thumb and forefinger slowly adding more and more pressure to the frozen nub.

Just when she thought he couldn’t do anything else she felt his mouth return to her other breast once more, his tongue swirling around her nipple as she felt his fangs scrape against it.

“Yes! Bite me, please.”

As his fangs pierced her flesh she lost all control, the orgasm that hit her was one of the best of her life. It seemed to go on forever. Every pull of his mouth as he fed from her causing a new wave of pleasure to wash over her. Oh god.

Angelus released her breast from his mouth once he’d drank his fill and pulled back to watch her come apart for him. Watching her lose herself to the pleasured pain of it all he knew it was true she truly was made for him. His Vixen. Releasing her completely he pulled her legs farther apart as he settled between her thighs, the night had only begun.


	6. Library Aide

  


  


Cordelia could not believe it. She knew Giles had some pull in the school, he did keep the scoobies out of trouble no matter how many classes they skipped after all, but this was ridiculous. He had used his _powers_ to have her transferred out of her last period computer class and now she was told by the guidance counselor that she was to instead report to the library for study hall every day.

What the hell?

What was she supposed to do in the library, every day, for an hour? The only things in the Library everyday were books and Giles, and of course those idiots. Was this a set up? Another ambush? Or was he just trying to make her give up and come back into the loser club like all was forgiven? Cause if he did he was in for a very rude response to that! Oh well, no use asking herself about it when there was an easier way to figure it all out. Squaring her shoulders she flipped her hair once for good measure and finally stepped into Giles domain. She would make the most of this, what ever the hell this was.

Giles knew that Miss Chase was standing outside the library doors for some time, likely making sure none of her true emotions were on display before she entered. He'd noticed long ago that, that particular young woman wore a kind of emotional armor wrapped around herself that most adults would envy. Honestly, after the past few weeks he couldn't even blame her for needing to take a moment before entering what to her must seem like enemy territory.

He had always thought of the library as his domain, his arena if you will, but to Cordelia and indeed to the other students it must appear more to belong to Buffy than himself. He had begun to notice it more and more of late. Buffy was a queen and his library was her throne room. The place where she reigned supreme and doled out praise or abuse as she saw fit to those either brave enough of foolish enough to engage her here. She behaved as though her presence in his arena made her invincible, as though there was no mischief she could start here that he could not end before it reached Snyder's ears. Unfortunately, he also observed of his own behavior that she had true reasons to believe that fact, simply put it had always been true in the past.

Well no longer, he would not withdraw all of his protections at once of course, that would be tantamount to sending a knight into battle with armor made of paper. They would still perceive the presence of the protection and would act accordingly not knowing it was truly gone until far too late. No he would start by being more forceful in his authority over them all, no longer letting them get away with certain behaviors because of their age or any emotions he may feel for them. 

Yes, they were like his children but unlike a true parent he had not enforced his authority and had in fact allowed himself to be swayed by emotions and sentiment far too often. The result of such weakness had been that now everyone had fallen to taking sides and the once tightknit group were now enemies in a silent war of hormones and perceived grievances. 

Of course he'd made sure that none of her enemies were present for her arrival. Buffy and the others didn't even know what he'd done by transferring Cordelia into his care for the final hour of her studies. Hopefully all would go well and no one would have to ever know his true motives for the change. 

Hearing the doors swing open and the distinctive click of high heels he turned towards his new visitor prepared to do battle himself. He would do everything in his power to keep Cordelia Chase from further harm, with or without her consent.

"Ah, Cordelia good you've arrived, let's get started shall we?"

She could not believe it! She, Cordelia Chase, was shelving books like she freaking worked here or something. Sure, Giles had called her a library aide but it boiled down to one thing, she was free labor. She'd started to just refuse to do anything and to just sit out front at the table until the bell rang and she was free, but that would mean interacting with the scoobies when they showed, not to mention she would have to endure more than one lecture from Giles, and she just wasn't in the mood to deal with their stupid muttering about her right now. She would just finish with the books that had been shoved into her hands and then she would go back to that small table she found at the back of the stacks and she would just sit there and wait for this nightmare to be over.

She needed to sit down and think, there had to be a way out of this after all, it wasn't like Giles was Snyder or anything. There had to be a way to get out of here and back into her computer class. She was no ones hired help.

Angelus came into the library through the back of the stacks as always, it was both private and had the added advantage of having easy access from the tunnels beneath the school he used to travel during the day. The school day was almost over and he was going to stir the pot a little more by interacting with Cordelia and Buffy together for the first time since the slayer got off watching him take Cordelia over and over again their first time together. If everything went as planned by the end of the scooby meeting he would have one sexually frustrated slayer and one revved and ready vixen. He was so caught up in his thoughts about what was to come that he almost didn't see Cordy sitting at a small table in a dark corner in the back of the stacks. In fact if he hadn't smelled her sweet scent he might have breezed right past her.

What was she doing back here? Alone.

"Cordelia?" He watched her jump a little at the sound of his voice and he couldn't help the little shiver that went down his spine at the reaction. His presents were really getting to her. It was always so hard to tell with Cordelia, she was so strong she hadn't broken down around him once yet. It was slightly gratifying to see that she was at least a little on edge when she was alone in the dark.

"Angel? What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing. Giles called and asked me to come today to help figure out what's going on with your ... situation. What are you doing sitting back here in the dark?" He'd given the watcher a number to contact him on back when he was still burdened with the soul, and now it had paid off. He knew Angel would be called in to help eventually, it was only a matter of time.

"It's not that dark back here."

"That's not an answer."

"Well, Giles had my classes switched so that I'm his _library aide_ for the last hour of school so I'm back here so he doesn't give me more books to shelve." 

He could tell by her tone exactly what she thought of that new development. It was impressive really how much disdain she could put into one little phrase. So she was back here in the dark huh, this could be fun. But first he had to know.

"And he hasn't come looking for you yet?"

"He might have, but I heard Buffy come in about ten minutes ago. Guess he's busy."

Perfect.

"Cordelia, would you like to play a little game?"

He watched her eyes dilate in lust at his question, she was thinking about the game he'd played with her last night. As he watched the shiver of desire roll through her whole body he knew what her answer would be. The only answer there could be really.

"What do you want me to do?"

He didn't say anything, he just began to run his hands up her smooth silky legs, catching the sides of her so short skirt on the way up. He dragged it up further until it was bunched up around her waist revealing her lacy red panties that barely covered her at all. He watched as she shifted her stance spreading her legs further apart giving him better access to any part of her he desired to touch. Looking up into her lust blown eyes he knew he owned her now, completely.

"Good girl." He watched as his praise registered in her mind, as she understood that he liked how she was acting now. That alone would cement the behavior, she would offer herself to him now whenever and where ever he wanted from now on, just to please him. On the off chance that he would tell her what a good girl she was again. He couldn't stop himself from laughing softly at the thought.

"Cordelia, why are you hiding yourself from me? Don't you want me to see you?" He waited for his meaning to penetrate the heavy haze of lust in coating her mind. When it finally did she looked down at herself and her clothes as though trying to figure out how and why they were still covering her body from his view. Looking back at him, never taking her eyes from his face, she began to fix the problem. First pulling off her shirt, then her red bra that matched her pretty little panties and then those too joined the pile of discarded clothes leaving her in nothing but her heels and the skirt that had been pushed up and out of the way.

"Beautiful. Get up on the table and show me what's mine." it was a slight risk, she might bulk at the possessiveness of his words, but he doubted it.

"Yes, yours."

She slid up onto the smooth wooden surface bringing her knees up until the heels of her shoes caught on the edge and held her there with her legs spread wide before him.

"Look at you, you slut, you're already dripping wet for me and I haven't even really touched you yet. Tell me, have you always been such a dirty whore or do I just bring it out in you?"

"Please take me, make me yours, I feel so empty when you're not inside me."

"Don't worry, I'll make you feel real good." when he heard the footsteps of someone headed towards them and then recognized their scent he had a new idea of a way to have some extra fun with this. "I'll make you feel so good, but you have to beg me for everything you want me to do to you. If you don't say it then I won't do it."

Buffy couldn't believe that Giles had yelled at her about Cordelia of all people. So he hadn't really raised his voice or anything but this was Giles, he didn't have to actually yell to yell. Maybe it was an English thing, being able to hit just that tone that made yelling not necessary.

He'd told her that Cordelia was shelving books for him, and boy did she get a little buzz from that, Cordelia Chase working. Ha! Now she had to go find her back there and nicely ask her to join them for a scooby meeting about the creature who killed her neighbors, the only bright side was that Angel would be here too.

She just knew that everything would be back to normal now, that Angel would be back to normal now, and this meeting would drive home the fact that Angel loved her and that Cordelia had been nothing but a one time mistake. A foot note really, barely worth a mention even. Now she just had to find Cordelia and wait for Angel to arrive, turning the corner she finally found them both, and she froze. What the fuck!

No, no, no, no, no. This could not be happening to her! Not again.

"Please, Angel harder. I want it. More. I want to feel you inside me. Please."

There in front of her was the love of her life, fucking Cordelia "slut" Chase on a table in the back of the library. Vigorously. That, that, SLUT was just begging for it too. No wonder he was with her if she was acting this way. Everyone knew that men couldn't resist a girl who was a whore down to her core. 

As she watched him thrusting into her over and over again, she couldn't help but remember her own time beneath him. He was a magnificent lover, not that she really had anything to compare him to. But he hadn't been quite so forceful with her, when they had made love he'd been gentle and kind treating her like something precious and almost breakable. 

The thoughts of her first time, combined with the sight of the two so deep in thrall with each other that the rest of the world fell away had a dampness beginning to form between her legs. She wanted to be in Cordelia's place so badly, and she would be again, now that she knew what he wanted she would be better able to give it to him.

Did that mean she hadn't been good enough for him? Did he leave her because he didn't think she would do the things that Cordelia obviously loved doing with him? He was thrusting into the bitch so hard the table was rocking with each motion and his back was flexing from the strain. 

She was so deep in her thoughts of self doubt and pity that she forgot for the moment that Angel was a vampire, and just how much force he must be putting into his movements for the strain to show so easily.

Angelus was very much aware of it all though. He could smell the arousal of the slayer from where she stood just a few feet behind him, watching him. Who knew the slayer was such a little voyeur, she really got off on watching him with his vixen. The slight smell of blood mixed with the slayers arousal and he knew that he was really hurting Cordelia now. He'd watched as slowly the mounting pain of his increasingly hard thrusts had penetrated the wall of lust that had surrounded her, and now she was at a decision point.

Say something and maybe disappoint him or endure the pain and make him happy. He was excited to see what she would choose. It was a toss up really, she was very much his now but at the same time there was that strong stubborn side that reared up at the most random times. Decisions, decisions.

Cordelia wasn't a slut, but she wasn't a novice either. She'd been with her fair share of guys both experienced and not so experienced, so she knew when something wasn't right. Sure sometimes, depending on the position and prep put into it or lack there of, sex hurt at first or was extremely uncomfortable. This though, this was straight up pain. 

She looked up into his eyes, trying to hide her own discomfort, not wanting to ruin the mood and she saw that light of pleasure in his eyes that could only really come from being ecstatically happy. So did she call a stop completely? Demand a new position? Beg him to slow down? What to do, what to do? Maybe none of the above. She was Cordelia Chase she didn't need anyone else to ensure he pleasure she could do it herself damn it, then they would both get what they wanted.

Angelus was completely shocked when instead of doing what he thought she would his vixen simply lifted one of her legs higher up onto his shoulder, digging her heel in a little causing him some glorious pain of his own, and giving him better access to her body letting him pound deeper into her warm welcoming pussy. He was in heaven and the meeting hadn't even started yet.


	7. Meeting with Me

  


Buffy looked around the table at all of her friends, and Cordelia, as Giles droned on and on about the latest threat to her. She knew she should probably be paying more attention to what he was saying, but what was the point? Not only had she already survived every threat so far to her, but he was also focusing on Cordelia. Cordelia!

Okay, so obviously this guy was brain dead enough to have a thing for _Queen C_ , but she was the slayer! He was a vampire! Hello, he was _obviously_ after her, he just hadn’t gotten up the nerve to come straight at her yet. Come on! He killed _her_ neighbors, why were they still wasting time talking about Cordelia? Looking over at Willow she knew she wasn’t the only one thinking the same thing, so obviously she was right.

Hell, if they wanted to talk about _Slut C_ she had a better topic for them all. Like how about how she was totally hoeing it up with _her_ guy. She didn’t blame Angel, after all a guy would have to be a saint to resist a ho-bag acting like that after all. He was most likely just afraid of her reaction, that explained why he hadn’t come crawling back to her yet. Plus, it totally explained why he was still crawling between Cordelia’s conveniently spread legs, he was consoling himself with cheap meaningless sex because he thought he’d lost any right to her love. 

Normally he would be right to be afraid, but she was willing to be the bigger person and forgive him. Just this once of course, which she would make perfectly clear to him. Though she would forgive him, she would also make it beyond clear that he had to stop this thing he had going on with _Queen Skank_. She and Angel were epic, and everyone knew it, so he slipped one time, okay two times, but she was going to be the forgiving mature adult here and let him off the hook. She could already picture him groveling at her feet in gratitude for her gracious actions.

After all what kind of soul mate would she be if she held every little thing against him forever? Not to mention that once the fight was over there was all kinds of make-up sex to keep them both totally occupied and away from any other _distractions_. 

When she told him that he was forgiven, of course only after he’d groveled for a suitable amount of time, he would be back to worshipping her very willing body. She could hardly wait, if what she saw him doing with she who shall never again be mentioned was anything to go by their sex life was going to be even more mind blowing-ly epic than she remembered. Not to mention that since he didn’t love Queen C, and he did love her, their sex would be even more earth shatteringly amazing. It was like a scientific fact that love made everything better, especially sex.

Angelus couldn’t believe it, the slayer was getting worked up and going all gooey eyed all through the meeting. He doubted she even heard a single word of what the old wind bag watcher had to say. Considering where the conversation was headed that was probably a good thing.

“You know Angel, if I didn’t know for a fact that you were so thoroughly reformed I would believe this to be your handiwork. These games are very much reminiscent of your early years as Angelus.”

At the watchers words every pair of eyes turned his way, each with their own expression. Hate, love, amusement, curiosity, suspicion and more was just flooding out of their eyes in his direction. 

“You’re right of course. Are you saying you think I’m behind this?” He kept his voice even and free of any form of emotion, especially the laughter that threatened to bubble up at their reactions. The best way to keep a secret is misdirection after all.

“No!”

“Of course not!”

“Giles wasn’t saying that at all. Were you Giles?”

“Are you?”

“Oz! How could you say such a thing? Angel is our friend.” Willow rose to his defense immediately, her belief that he and her friend were fated to be together, their names intertwined in the stars or something equally nauseating, removing all doubt of his innocence from her mind before the thoughts could even take root.

“Giles brought it up, and he never gave an actual answer. So are you behind this?” Wolf boy it seems was far more observant than he gave him credit for. To him, it seemed, no one was above suspicion. He would normally admire that in a person, or a dog, but at the moment it was just irritating as hell.

“No! I would never do something like this. Yes, I have done some questionable things in my past, most of which would make your blood freeze in your veins just from hearing about it.” That particular fact was a matter of pride for him, his exploits were legendary. “ _All_ of which were done before my soul was _restored_ , and I have not done anything like it since my soul has been within me.”

He waited for his words to sink in, when the lengthy pause dragged on and it seemed that no one else had any questions for him he couldn’t stop the smirk that worked its way onto his face, not that he was really trying all that hard. The evening so far had been a rousing success, ending with a pissed off slayer scowling at her best friends beau just because he was smarter than all the rest of them combined. Life was good.

Giles looked around the room and wondered once again how the entire evening had gotten away from him. Things had been going well until an off handed comment sent everyone into a tailspin. He didn’t know who he was more shocked with Oz for asking the question of Angel or everyone else’s reactions to it. 

Well almost everyone anyhow, he had noticed that while everyone else’s reactions to the nights events were fairly typical, bordering on predictable, but Cordelia had seemed almost curious. Normally when a subject was broached that the young miss chase felt had no true significance to her personally she would make it known fairly early on just how she felt about the turn of events. This time however she just seemed to be going with the flow of the conversation, not really interrupting it at all now that he thought of it. He had begun to fear that this ordeal she was being subjected to was taking a far greater toll on her than she was presently letting on. He resolved then and there to speak with her more privately once everyone else had departed.

Buffy waited for everyone else to start drifting out towards the parking lot, and for Giles to really gain Cordelia’s attention, before she approached Angel. He seemed to be waiting for Cordelia and while that would normally annoy her, right now it sort of worked for her so she let it go as unimportant. 

“Angel?” She couldn’t believe she was nervous, it wasn’t like he would refuse to talk to her after all, and he loved her more than anything.

“Yes? Was there something you wanted?” When he said “wanted” there was just something in his tone that made her mouth go dry, and her panties flood with moisture. Yes, there was definitely something she wanted.

“Could we talk?” God she sounded and felt completely junior high. What was it about Angel that always made her feel so juvenile? It was like everything she said, no matter what it was, was always just so _young_. For the first time in her life, being young was a not so much of the good.

“We are talking.” That wasn’t what she meant and he knew it. Why was he being so difficult about this?

“Not here, somewhere a little more private.” Where to go? Where to go? They had to be far enough away to be out of Giles and Cordelia’s earshot but at the same time it couldn’t look like they were going too far or Angel might balk.

“Where did you have in mind?” Anywhere he wanted. Did he always sound so sexy? She supposed he did, it wasn’t like anything about him had changed lately. Maybe she was just finally hearing it for the first time since she was now a more sexual being. Yeah, that must be it, she just didn’t hear it before because she was a virgin.

“Follow me I’ll show you.” She walked away making sure to put a little extra sway in her hips to try and grab his interest. Try? Where had that come from? He was Angel and she was Buffy since when did she have to try to get his interest? Since never that’s when. Or to be more honest, since Cordelia.

Angelus had known that messing with the scoobies would be fun, but he never guessed it would be this fun. The slayer was acting all insecure, trying and failing to appear sexy and confident, something his vixen did without thought at all. She was trying to seduce him, and he thought he might just let her. 

When they reached the room at the end of the hall he knew where she was taking him, the girl’s bathroom, just out of range of listening ears and abandoned at this time of night. He could work with that, and if he played his cards right it could work for him twofold both now and later on.

“So what did you want to talk about?”

“I saw you with Cordelia. You and her were like totally oblivious while you were fucking _Queen Slut_ into the table. God, she was practically begging for it like a bitch in heat.”

There were two ways he could handle this, now he just needed to choose which way to go. He could act all understanding and contrite or he could go the fun way. Looking into her blazing anger filled eyes he knew exactly what he would do. After all, you could never have too much fun in your life.

“I know you saw us you naughty girl. I smelled your arousal right off, the sight of me nailing the future prom queen got you off, your panties were soaking wet weren’t they? You probably stood there fantasizing about being in her place, about having me above you again, about your tight little body straining to take all of me. What’s the matter slayer? Haven’t found anyone else willing to throw you in bed for a quick fuck? Were you hoping I would lower myself to touch you again?”

He watched as his words sank it, as the fire and light in her eyes died down to nothing but tears. Now that he had her in the right frame of mind it was time to turn the tables a bit, to get her right where he needed her to be.

“I could you know. Touch you. Would you like that? Is that what you want? Me to touch you again, maybe do to you what I did to Cordelia? If that’s what you want then you have to act like a good girl and ask me for it just like she did. Can you do that? Can you tell me what you want?”

He watched as the mention of Cordelia made the slayer both angry and horny. This girl was so bent out of shape over Cordelia he’d be surprised if even she knew just how much watching him dominate the girl got her off. He waited a few seconds for what he said to penetrate her anger fogged mind, then he waited for her to make a decision. If she decided to hold to her anger, then it was no great loss, after all he still had his vixen to keep him warm at night. It wasn’t like he wasn’t still planning to kill the slayer eventually, but if he could play a little first that would be just too sweet.

“Touch me.” Nice.

“Touch you? That sounds like a demand, not a request.” He stepped closer to her, stopping a breath away from her so she could feel him there even if he wasn’t actually putting his hands on her yet. Ghosting his hands along her body he stopped just short of cupping her sex. “I told you that if you wanted something from me you needed to ask for it, so ask.”

Come on slayer throw that pride out the window, you know you want it. Hell at this rate maybe he should try for little red to, complete his growing collection. Nah. The only one he really wanted was his vixen after all.

“Please, touch me?” She sounded so confused and desperate, he loved it. Her eyes were now so bogged down with lust she couldn’t feel anything else and he hadn’t even done anything to her yet. Not that he would, at least not right now.

“No. If you want a reward you have to learn how to behave. You spied on me, demanded my attention, and expected my devotion. No, if you want anything from me now, you’ll have to earn it.”

“But—“She looked so put out, she was on the verge of pouting, and the tears were back only now they were born of frustration.

Loving it he turned to go, but he couldn’t resist turning back for a second, just to let her know.

“For the record Cordelia wasn’t _practically_ begging for it, she was absolutely begging for my cock, you heard every word she whimpered out of her hot little mouth. When you lay awake in your little bed tonight and you’re running your naughty little fingers across your aching pussy that’s what I want you to think about. I want you to think about Cordelia pinned to that table pleading for more of my big hard cock. When you finally cum all over your roving fingers I want you to think about all the dirty, naughty, things I could do to your little body.”

Turning away from her he walked back towards the Library and his vixen, if he played this right his night would be far from over.

Cordelia sat in her car beside Angel on the way to her house, her mind going a mile a minute. She didn’t even remember how exactly she got relegated to the passenger seat, it was her car! She knew that wasn’t really the cause of her anger, if he wanted to drive she had no problem just going with the flow on that, hell it freed her mind from having to really pay attention to the world around her so she could think. Angel and Buffy had disappeared while she’d been trapped talking to Giles, they’d been gone for about half an hour before Angel came back looking smug and Buffy never showed before they left. 

Had the two of them finally gotten back together, she had always known it was only a matter of time before the epic-ness of the Angel and Buffy show took off again. She guessed she was just frustrated that it happened like right after she let Angel do all those things to her, it was like his sneaking off with little miss perfect was his way of saying that she hadn’t been enough. That she wasn’t enough. No! Screw that noise she was Cordelia freaking Chase, she was more than enough for anybody, like Buffy could ever compare to her in any way shape or form. When the car finally slowed to a stop in her drive way she decided to do what she did best, what she was known for really, she’d be direct about it.

“Did you and Buffy hook-up while I was with Giles?” There it was out in the open now, so they could both just deal with it.

“Why would you think that?” Wow, he was good, no denial but no affirmation either. He wanted her to spell out her reasoning.

“Because… because you left together and when you came back you were all smug and stuff like a guy who just scored and Buffy didn’t come back at all. What happened? Did you rip her clothes? I know how much you love doing that.” Her voice had started out wavering but by the end she was her usual acerbic self. If he left her for Buffy, so what, she would not break. Hah, break? She wouldn’t even bend.

“No, we didn’t ‘hook-up’, she asked to talk to me so we stepped out so we wouldn’t disturb you and Giles if we got a little loud as our nearly all our discussions seem to be these days. She led me to the girl’s restroom at the end of the hall and we talked. Apparently she saw you and me, in the back of the stacks, while we were fucking. She was full of accusations and insults against us both for a while. Eventually she changed her tune, and yes I think she was looking for a hook-up, but I didn’t touch her I swear. We talked about you, about her, even about me, but I swear to you nothing happened.”

He had the chance to reunite with Buffy and he turned her down? Oh God! She didn’t know what to think about that. She’d always just assumed that when Buffy finally got over herself and crooked her finger at him Angel would go running back without even a glance in her direction. Now, he was telling her that he’d turned her down. 

“Really? You turned her down?”

“I did.” Wow, something like that really deserved some sort of reward right? He looked so earnest, and he was looking right in her eyes, almost like he was afraid she wouldn’t believe him. Well she would just have to let him know that she did, and since words were so easy to ignore, she would just have to show him. Oh God, she was starting to fall for him, like utterly and completely fall for him.

Unbuckling her seatbelt she turned slightly in her seat, she knew what she looked like right now, she looked like she was about to let him have it with both barrels. Just as he opened his mouth, most likely to defend his actions, she leaned forward giving him a good view down her blouse at her breasts while her hand went to his zipper. As she dragged it down, his already hard length spilled out onto her hands, she loved the feel of him, but this wasn’t about her. 

Taking him lightly in her hand she never broke eye contact as she slowly lowered her head towards his straining erection. When her mouth finally closed over his tip she heard him moan in pleasure. She couldn’t stop her eyes from sliding shut with her own pleasure. He hadn’t seen anything yet. Before she was done he wouldn’t even remember who Buffy was.

Hollowing her cheeks she sank down further, slowly taking him in an inch at a time. She let her hand pump along the shaft harder and harder with every pass of her tongue. She could feel his cock begin to pulse as he got closer and closer to release, a few more seconds and she would be able to taste him again. 

She was so distracted by the thought of it, she didn’t notice that his hand had fisted in her hair until he was pulling at her, lifting her head up and her mouth off of him. She was confused at first until she heard what he was panting.

“No, ride me. I want to see you.”

Swinging her leg over him she straddled his lap, slowly sinking down on him as he thrust up into her warm, wet pussy. 

She watched his hands glide up her body until he got to her breasts and stopped. He was looking straight into her eyes.

“What was that you said about me liking to rip clothes?”

She heard the tearing sound before the rest of her brain caught on to what he was doing. Even with his words ringing in her ears it didn’t fully register until she felt the cool night air on her bared skin. The way he was staring at her now naked breasts, such hunger burning in his eyes, she knew what he wanted. What they both wanted.

“Bite me! Feed from me! Please!” This she knew, was something Saint Buffy would never let him do to her, but she could never get enough. The feel of his fangs breaking the skin, of the blood rushing to the surface and the pull of his mouth was amazing.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than he was giving her what she wanted so badly. The feel of his mouth on her, his fangs in her, made her come so hard she was sure her neighbors could hear her scream. Oh yes, this was sure to wipe out any trace of Buffy from his mind, at least for the night.

Buffy was laying alone in her bed and she couldn’t sleep. Everything Angel had said to her kept echoing in her mind over and over again. Even the not quite touch he’d given her had been enough to keep her keyed up and wanting for hours. God! Why did he have to be with Cordelia? Why didn’t he come running back to her like he was supposed to? Did he not love her anymore? No! That was beyond ridiculous of course he still loved her this was Angel, her Angel, he would love her forever.

Rubbing her thighs together under the covers she tried to get it all out of her mind, to just turn it off and get some sleep. She would talk to Willow about it all tomorrow and together they would figure out what she could do next to get him out of Cordelia’s clutches.

It was no use, her mind wouldn’t stop playing Angel’s words back to her like a CD stuck on repeat. Slowly her hand began to creep under the covers to her dripping pussy. She rarely masturbated, she’d always been taught that it wasn’t something a good girl did. She’d wanted to a few times, and every now and again she gave into the urge, but normally she could just go to sleep and pretend like it didn’t matter. This time was different, this time it was like she had to do this.

_When you lay awake in your little bed tonight and you’re running your naughty little fingers across your aching pussy that’s what I want you to think about._

She whimpered as his words echoed back to her again and again. Her fingers rubbed harder and harder along her pulsating lips. Oh God  
.  
She could still see them together. Cordelia laid out on the table in the back of the stacks with Angel pounding into her harder and harder. She could hear her pleas for more. Her fingers finally dipped inside sending shocks of pleasure throughout her whole body as her jerky movements began to work her up. Higher and higher.

_Please, Angel harder. I want it. More. I want to feel you inside me. Please._

“I want it!” She was so lost in her own pleasure she didn’t even realize she’d spoken out loud.

While her fingers continued to torment her wet pussy her other hand crept up to her aching breast. When her fingers finally clamped down on her nipple and pinched it mercilessly her back arched slightly, just enough to let her fingers sink deeper inside of her. Yes! So close, she was so close.

_When you finally cum all over your roving fingers I want you to think about all the dirty, naughty, things I could do to your little body._

Think about them she did, every last fantasy flashed through her mind. She was so focused on her pleasure that she didn’t even notice that before the fantasies began all she could think about was Angel with Cordelia. When she finally came down from her orgasm, she felt so tired she knew she would easily be able to fall asleep now. She’d deal with all of this tomorrow. Sighing contentedly she finally allowed her eyes to drift shut to the feel of her own cum sticking to her thighs.

Cordelia lay awake in bed beside Angel, they had spent hours wearing each other out, but she couldn’t seem to let herself drift away on the wave of her sexual bliss. Bits and pieces of the conversations tonight just kept invading her mind.

_These games are very much reminiscent of your early years as Angelus._

_I have done some questionable things in my past, most of which would make your blood freeze in your veins just from hearing about it._

What all had Angel done back in his less than nice days? Did she really want to know? Easy answer there, no she didn’t want to know, but she had a feeling she needed to know. She loved him, and unlike Buffy she wouldn’t close her eyes and turn away from the parts of him that made her uncomfortable. Hell, Buffy had ignored anything that reminded her that Angel was even a vampire, let alone anything that reminded her that he hadn’t always been a neutered vamp. So she needed to know about Angel’s past as Angelus, but how would she get to know those things? 

She could ask Angel himself, but even she knew how much he hated talking about his less than stellar past. Anytime something or someone popped up that reminded him that he wasn’t always so nice and cuddly he shut down and shut them all out. So that was a no go there.

She supposed she could ask Giles. After their little talk today she was sure he would tell her, or at least tell her where to look. She still remembered what he’d said to her in the library before Angel had come back to get her.

_Cordelia, I know that my behavior was deplorable when you first came to me for help. I dismissed you as unimportant and I will live with the regret of my actions for the rest of my days. I just wanted to make sure that you were aware that I am here for you now. I know what you must be thinking, too little too late, and you are quite right of course. I am not asking your forgiveness because I know I do not deserve it, however I do want to make sure you know that I am here for you if you need anything. Anything at all._

Now what she needed was information, hopefully he would be willing to help. She’d hit him up tomorrow during last period.


	8. Information Exchange

  


Angelus watched Cordelia tug ineffectively at her wrists to try and touch him even though she knew that the cuffs locking her to the headboard wouldn't budge. She was so out of it she wasn't thinking straight and that's was exactly how he liked her to be. Ever since she'd blown up at him over Buffy the night before she'd done everything she could think of to _make it up_ to him.

While normally she would just agree to do anything he suggested, deferring to him as the one with the most experience, in her eagerness to please she'd even suggested a few ideas including this one. As he firmly thrust into her ass with increasing strength she loudly begged him for more. God, he loved his vixen this way, tied to the bed and begging. 

"Say it!" He demanded, not for the first time that night, every time it was the same answer with a few variations depending on how far gone she was over what he was doing to her willing body.

"I want your cock! I need to feel you inside me! Please! Fuck me harder!" He watched the tears of frustration fall from her beautiful eyes and gripped her hips that much harder.

"Why should I?" As he spoke he began to slow his thrusts just enough for her to notice the change in pace, like he just might stop completely and leave her just like this.

"Because I was a bad, bad, girl to question you about _her_ , I need to be punished please!" She was practically sobbing with want. He'd had her on the edge for hours now and hadn't allowed her to cum. The beauty of it had been that it was her idea that he punish her for her _transgression_. She truly believed that she'd been wrong to question him about Buffy, to accuse him of going behind her back like that.

"Cum for me baby, I want to watch you fall apart." As her screams of pleasured pain filled the room he knew it was only a matter of time before she stopped feeling the need to question him at all. When that happened, she would belong to him in every way and it wouldn't matter what anyone else said or did. She would never leave his side. She would never leave his bed. "Good girl Cordelia."

Buffy looked at the shock and anger on her friends face as she talked about everything she knew about Angel and Cordelia and she knew she'd done the right thing coming to Willow. She'd been slightly worried that her ever practical friend would take the same outlook that Giles was, that she didn't have any right being jealous. Then again Giles wasn't a teenage girl so of course he didn't understand what a giant problem this was. All he could see was that she and Angel had separated _before_ he started making such a monumental mistake with Cordelia. He didn't see all the unofficial rules Queen C was breaking by being with _her_ boyfriend. 

"Then he was just all dismissive of me in the bathroom while I was trying to mend fences. I was being the bigger person, being all forgiving, and all he wanted to do was get back to Cordelia." So she'd edited what happened a bit, that was allowed.

"Wow! So Angel had sex with Cordelia again? What a mean thing to do, I mean she had to know that you were going to get back with him at the meeting. How could she torpedo you like that? So not cool!"

"Exactly." Finally someone else understood. "The only thing I can figure is that she was trying to get back at me for not falling all over myself to be nice to her. After all the world does revolve around her. So she sees Angel before I get there and decides to seduce him. Well we both know that wouldn't just work, Angel's way too smart for that plus he's totally in love with me, so of course being the giant hoe that she is she must have filled his head with all kinds of lies. I figure she must have told him that I knew about the two of them and I wouldn't forgive him, that's the only reason I can see he would be stupid enough to get with her again. He thinks he's already lost me." 

Yeah, his behavior in the bathroom had just been because of whatever nonsense Cordelia had told him. Her Angel would never talk to her like that. She was his everything. He'd just been defensive because she'd opened with an aggressive attack. Her telling him that she'd seen him with Cordelia must have confirmed his deepest fear. That he'd lost her. The conversation had devolved so quickly she hadn't even been able to tell him that she forgave him, he must still think that she hates him.

"Poor Angel. Could you imagine thinking your only option in life is to be with Cordelia? That would be a nightmare. What are you going to do?" That was the tricky part.

"I don't know Will, I have to find a way to tell him that I forgive him without bringing _her_ up and making him defensive, but also without bitchy herself interrupting us. I think I might swing by his apartment after school and try to catch him there. Cordelia has cheer practice this afternoon right? No way she'd skip that so I should be in the clear for at least two hours right."

"Sounds like a plan." It was the only plan she had anyway. Hopefully this visit would end better than the one before it. As the bell began to sound she couldn't help the rush of heat that filled her as she thought of the last two times she'd been in Angel's apartment. In his bed. Hopefully everything would go better this time.

Cordelia took a deep fortifying breath as she stared at the library doors. Beyond those doors the font of knowledge waited, she just had to hope that Giles really meant it when he said he'd help her if he could. As she began to walk forward the tug and pull of her aching body brought a smile to her face. While the slight burn of her marathon sex with Angel was uncomfortable, it was also kind of nice having that constant reminder that Angel preferred her over Buffy. Anytime she started to go down that rabbit hole of thinking that he would run off the second small blonde and perky looked at him sideways she just had to shift in her seat and she remembered that she had already done that. And he turned her down! Apparently epic love didn't hold a candle to mind numbing sex. 

She wasn't stupid enough to think that Angel actually loved her or something. No! His lovey-dovey feelings were more than likely still centered on Buffy, she would just make do with having his body instead. Marching through the doors she found Giles right there at the counter sorting through books, like always.

"Cordelia, good morning, was there something I could help you with?" His tone was still all British and formal, but it seemed to be warmer than she was used to. Maybe he had been telling the truth about not being so frosty.

"Yeah, actually there is. Did you mean it yesterday when you said you'd help me if you could?" Her question stopped him in his tracks and dragged his attention to her and away from his books. Wow, she didn't even know that anyone other than Buffy or another adult could do that.

"Most certainly. Do you require my assistance?" He seemed genuinely worried for her, it was kind of nice.

"Okay, I'm going to tell you something but I need you to promise you'll keep it to yourself. No sharing. Oh, and no judging either. Okay?" If he couldn't promise not to spill everything to saint Buffy then she would just have to find another way to get the information she was after.

"Very well. Whatever you say to me within the confines of this library, unless you expressly say otherwise, will remain in the strictest confidence. I shall also endeavor to reserve judgment. What can I help you with?"

"Okay, well you know how Angel and I have sort of gotten together right? I swear though he and Buffy were like completely on the outs when we first hooked up. I don't poach. Well, this thing with us has sort of turned into a bit of a regular type thing, I see him more often then not. So I was thinking about it yesterday after you and he went on and on about the things he did as Angelus-"

"Cordelia I assure you that Angel is now quite harmless, the deeds of his past have long since come and gone. He no longer behaves in such an unreputable way." Oh how sweet, he was trying to reassure her. Totally unnecessary but still totally sweet.

"Oh yeah, for sure, I know that. Gypsy curse, cuddles and rainbows for all. That's not what I was getting at. See, what I realized after that conversation was that I couldn't follow along with it you know, because I didn't have the information that you did. I don't know what Angel was like before. I wouldn't ask, but he already knows about most of my life and I don't know anything about his. Other than knowing that he's a vampire who used to do bad stuff but doesn't any more, I'm kind of in the dark."

"I see." And off went the glasses.

"Normally with a guy I'm with if I wanted to know something I would just ask the guy, but even I noticed how Angel doesn't like talking about his grrr days. So I figured I'd ask you if you could give me the 411, kind of help me get on a more level playing field."

There she'd asked, now it was out there and the ball was in his court or whatever. If he didn't feel comfortable helping her then she would just suck it up and go to Angel directly. Worst that could happen would be that he'd say no after all.

"I shall make a bargain with you Cordelia. Everyday during your final period in here I shall explain part of Angel's past to you. In exchange I would like you to consent to some self defense lessons during the latter half of the period. You may not be a slayer but there are some things you could learn that can help you when faced with a supernatural opponent."

"Deal." It wasn't such a high price to pay for what she wanted to know, besides learning how to fight was probably a good thing for her right now. Hearing the bell sound she turned and made her way towards her first class of the day, today was definitely looking up.

Willow stood just outside the locker room and tried in vain not to fidget anymore than normal. She was waiting for Cordelia, since she had an appointment with one of her teachers coach was letting her leave early and now would be the only time that she could talk to her alone. She tried not to let her fear of the girl who'd made her life a living hell for most of their formative years overwhelm her. If she let that happen then she would chicken out and she'd never say what she knew she needed to say. Looking left and right she tried not the let the deserted school hallway unnerve her, this was not scary, she'd seen scary and this wasn't it. Just because Cordelia could reduce people far more confident and self assured than her to a babbling mess of insecurities and pain with only a few simple words, that didn't make this scary.  
She could do this. For Buffy.

Hearing the door begin to swing open she turned just in time to see Cordelia breeze past her like she wasn't even there. Like she was invisible. Even though she'd spent a great many years trying to make herself invisible to Cordelia and her Cordettes, being so completely overlooked still stung. It was that sting of humiliation that gave her the courage to speak up and say what she'd come there to say.

"Cordelia! Could you hang back for a minute. I think we need to talk." The cold look of utter and complete disdain and dismissal tossed her way was almost enough to make her back down, out of habit and self preservation if nothing else.

"What the hell could you and I ever have to talk about?" Okay so they weren't exactly on the best of terms right now, but did she have to go all Queen C on her?

"About you and Angel. Buffy told me all about finding you and him in the library and I just had to ask you why you would do that. I mean I know you and Buffy aren't exactly friends but seducing her boyfriend on the day you know she and he were going to get back together is low even for you. Wasn't screwing him once in front of her good enough for you? What did you just have to twist the knife by doing it again?" There she'd said it. Now she just had to brace for the blow back. Seeing Cordelia narrow her eyes and look at her like she was just some disgusting little bug that was about to get splattered across her windshield kind of knocked the wind out of most of her sails.

"Listen here, and listen good, what I do with Angel is none of your business! What I choose to do with Angel is none of Buffy's business. What I choose to do with Angel is none of Xanders business. What I choose to do with Angel is no ones business but mine and Angel's. I get that you think that he and Buffy have this epic Romeo and Juliet romance, that they're written in the stars and that their love will conquer all, but they aren't together right now. They. Broke. Up. I don't understand why that is so hard for you people to understand. They were together, then they weren't together, now he and I are having a thing. Maybe they'll get back together one day, maybe they won't, but that choice has nothing to do with me and even less to do with you. So back the hell off red, before you really piss me off."

She watched Cordelia turn to go, she should just leave it at that, but she couldn't stop herself from one final parting shot.

"Angel may be blinded by your easy nature at the moment but sooner rather than later he'll see that he hasn't truly burned his bridges with Buffy like you want him to believe he has and they'll be back together like they always should have been. Then you'll be out on your whoring ass, alone, like you always should have been." Turning the other way, she hurried down the hall not wanting to hear anything Cordelia might have to say to that.

Oz stood silently by his locker, still and un-noticed by the girls further down. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His Willow, loving, kind, adorable, book-worm, Willow was being cruel. Or at least she was trying to be, it was hard to tell with Cordelia if she was succeeding or not. The one thing that had always held him so close to Willow had been that she was so... Willow, but this thing between Buffy, Angel, and Cordelia was changing her into something very not... Willow.

Shaking his head he left thoughts of his girlfriend for a later date, right now the one who really needed him was Cordelia. It just seemed to him that someone going through everything she was at the moment could use a non-judgmental friend in the know. Now he just needed a find a way to let her know that he was volunteering for that position. He'd always like Cordelia, sure she was a little mean sometimes, but that was mostly just because she was brutally honest. He could respect someone who pulled no punches. Closing his locker he began to wander towards the library, and Giles, they had a lot to talk about.

Spike woke to Dru dancing around the room again. She'd been doing that more and more of late. 

"Dru, what is it sweetheart?"

"The fox is looking into the darkness. Soon the shapes will take form and the fox will see it. Soon the little Vixen will be all ours for the taking."  
As Dru began to laugh and sing to the stars that only she could see, Spike just shrugged and resigned himself to wait for something to make sense of her words. Everything usually became clear eventually, if you had the patience to wait for it. Fortunately for him waiting was something he was good at.


	9. How It Began

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cordelia gets her first history lesson about Angelus and Angelus gets a surprise visitor at his apartment that isn't such a surprise.

  


Cordelia sat in the Library and tried not to tap her foot in irritation while Giles "gathered his thoughts", what was to gather? She wanted to know about Angel.

"Well, I supposed I should start at the beginning. I will explain all the salient points first, then I'll fill in some of the stories of things that happened between those times. To begin I shall explain the vampire line that Angel, then Angelus belongs to."

"Okay." Giles had paused long enough she knew he was waiting for her permission to continue. She had the feeling that he was hoping she would back down and he wouldn't have to do this. No such luck for him.

"The order of Aurelius was founded in the 12th Century by the vampire Aurelius himself. The order was created as a sort of cult, those vampires would worship the old ones, the true demons. Most would even shun humanity in its entirety, choosing to dwell beneath the earth in tunnels and caverns to the point that most of them would lose the ability to take on a human face." She could tell by his pacing that Giles had found his rhythm, lecture mode.

"You mean they were stuck all bumpy forever." Yuck.

"Yes."

"That's not like one of those passed on things right? I mean that won't happen to Angel will it?" Not that she would stop caring about him if it did, but she would like a little warning first, some time to prepare would be of the good.

"No, that only occurs if a vampire stops shifting from his more demonic visage to his human one. Staying in one face or the other for years without change causing a bit of a shift, nothing for Angel to worry about."

"Good. Wait does that mean that if Angel stayed in his human face for like ever he wouldn't be able to go all grumpy face." If it worked one way, why not the other.

"Yes, in theory, though it has never been done before. The vampire instinct to.. go all grumpy face as you say, is too ingrained in them. They do so when they feed, when they fight, when they become excessively angry, even during intercourse. Shifting into that form is at times even done without thought or conscious choice."

"Oh, okay then." She was just checking, not that she had anything against Angel's _grrr_ face, in fact she found it very sexy, but she came here for information so she wasn't going to hold back with the questions.

"Continuing on by 1760 Aurelius had disappeared and the vampire we knew as the Master took his place as the head of the family order. It is suspected by many that the Master killed Aurelius but there is of course no proof of that so to this day it is only supposition."

"Oh he sooo did it, total power play. Just like that time freshman year when Patty Dennis wanted to be captain of the cheerleading squad and so she put this stuff in Mandy Lipcheks vitamin water that made her all moody and bitchy before she called for a vote to replace her on the team. Nobody would have known except when the vote didn't go her way and instead Nina Hynes was elected new captain Patty totally flew into a hissy and spilled the beans about the whole thing in front of everyone." She knew from the dazed look of confusion in Giles eyes that he was a bit on information overload. Still he continued on in lecture mode.

"Quite right. After his rise to power the Master 'cleaned house' so to speak. He rid himself of the vampires he believed to be unworthy or to have allegiance to others above him. Then in 1609 he turned a vampire himself, Darla. At the time of her turning Darla had been dying of syphilis after a life lived as a prostitute. He also turned another, the vampire Luke around this time but no one knows the exact date for his turning only that he was by the Masters side in the early part of the next century."

"Wow, these are some weird names. I mean Darla, Luke, Angelus, Spike. What was up with that?" Not that she could talk with friends like Aura, but still, this was like a billion years ago when names were traditional and stuff.

"It was a tradition of sorts for the line, all vampires turned by the order of Aurelius would take a new name, one normally but not always given to them by their sire or someone of their line, thus leaving their human lives behind them completely. As far as I am aware Drusilla is the only vampire of the line to not do so."

"Makes sense I guess, I mean it's just like those actors that take on new names to make themselves sound more famous than they really are."

"Indeed. Darla stayed by the masters side for a century, until she eventually struck out on her own in the mid-1700's. Her travels eventually took her to Ireland where she met a young man whom she would later turn."

"Angel." Finally.

"Quite right. In fact it is believed that Angel is the only vampire Darla ever sired in her five centuries of un-life."

"Huh, must have been love at first sight or something. Tell me about him, human Angel."

"There's not much known of his human life, it's not until a person is a vampire of some note that the Council truly takes an interest and by that point most vampires are so distanced from where they originated that it's nearly impossible to know for sure who they used to be. I do know that he was Irish by birth, that his family was of some note in the region though he himself was more considered the black sheep of the family. Beyond that I'm afraid the only person who knows anything about Angel's life as a human would be Angel himself."

"What was his name?" Maybe if she knew at least that much she could find out more on her own.

"Liam I believe. I don't think anyone was ever able to deduce his surname but it was recorded by a watcher back in the later half of the nineteenth century that during a verbal altercation between Angelus and Darla she called him by his human name to get a rise out of him."

"I guess that would do it." Did that mean she shouldn't mention it to Angel? Maybe she would bring it up and see how it went from there.

"Between two vampires there can be no greater insult than making mention of ones human years." Or maybe she would keep it to herself. Then again she wasn't a vampire, just a curious human really, so would it still be an insult?

"What else do you know?" There had to be more, Angel was like a billion year old, that couldn't be all there was to know.

"Well after his turning in 1753 Angelus and Darla traveled Europe together as she taught him how to be a vampire. They remained together, just the two of them save for the odd traveling companion that would join them for a decade or so before parting ways, until Angelus turned Drusilla in 1860. The three of them traveled together until 1880 when Angelus allowed Drusilla to turn Spike, it is believed that he did so mainly to obtain a keeper for Drusilla more than for any other reason. The four of them transversed Europe together, their notoriety growing until they became known as the Scourage of Europe. The four most deadly vampires to ever hunt together. It wasn't until nearly two decades later in 1898 after he'd been killing and rampaging for nearly a century and a half that Angelus was cursed with his soul."

Wow, Angel had been cursed like a hundred years ago. Wow, Angel was totally old, not that she didn't already know that, but still. Thinking about all the things he'd done to her in bed, she couldn't see that as a bad thing. It was in fact all of the good.

"What else?"

"Oh no, that is the end of the history lesson for today, time to move on to the promised training. There will be more for you to learn tomorrow, in fact I do believe that I have enough stories of Angel to keep us going until the end of the school year." Trying not to grumble as she got to her feet she conceded that he did have a point, besides now she knew the basics she could come up with some questions for their session tomorrow.

Oz waited for Cordelia out past the quad near the parking lot, he knew she had to come that way to get to her car where she stored her change of clothes for cheer practice. It really was amazing the things you learned when you just listen to the people around you. He'd noticed over the months that he'd been with the "scoobies" that they all tended to ignore Cordelia whenever she talked, so he'd been doing his best to listen to everything she said as a way to sort of balance it all out. Not that anyone really paid enough attention to know what he was doing, but he figured that at least karmically it was sort of balanced.

He'd gone over and over what to say and decided to take a stab at the Cordelia method and just try being direct, bordering on blunt. After Willow's little ambush he doubted she would be in the mood for another surprise conversation so saying it right out would probably be his best bet if he wanted her to actually hear him out.  
He still couldn't believe that Willow behaved the way that she did. He understood taking the side of a friend, but that didn't excuse bad behavior. Seeing Cordelia headed towards her car he jogged to catch her before she left.

"Hey, Cordelia! You got a second?" He saw the thought of turning him down run through her mind for a minute before she relaxed and just let him speak his peace. The fact that he hadn't been anything even remotely resembling hostile towards her since this whole Angel thing began appeared to be working in his favor at the moment.

Willow stood across the courtyard and watched as Oz talked to Cordelia about something that obviously was important to him from the way his brows were all scrunched up. His brows only did that when he was carefully choosing his words before he spoke. Which he shouldn't have to do, especially with Cordelia, because he was Oz and therefore all the words he spoke were Oz words and all Oz words were good words. She watched as Cordelia's patented bitch face melted away a little at a time until she was smiling at Oz. Smiling at her Oz.

Was she trying to steal Oz like she did Angel? Was she promising to do naughty things with Oz? Things that Oz didn't think she would do with him. Because she would! Do the naughty things, if that was what Oz wanted. Willow started to see red when Cordelia leaned in and hugged Oz, her Oz, and kissed him on the cheek. She was trying to steal him from her! Well, she would just have to stop that from happening right now! Storming off Willow decided to head to Oz's place and wait for him there where they could have this discussion in private.

Buffy stood at the door of Angel's apartment and debated whether or not she should knock. If she did, that would maybe start them off on a better footing this time, but it also gave him the option of ignoring her. This was just like the first time she'd seen him after... no, bad Buffy, don't go there.

Deciding to be civil this time, and to not just assume, she raised her hand and knocked on the door. If he ignored her, then she would just let herself in again, she thought that was a balanced compromise. When he opened the door her practiced opening line went right out of her head at the sight of his bare chest. Oh God, he was in nothing but a pair of boxers and it was making her brain go all fuzzy and lusty.

"Buffy? What are you doing here?" His words dragged her mind out of the gutter and back to the here and now. So not the welcome she'd been expecting. While he wasn't all cold and dismissive this time, he was a little distant. Almost like he didn't care one way or the other why she was there. Which she knew couldn't be the case, because Angel always cared about what she was doing and where she was.

"Hey Angel, I thought you and I could talk for a bit." She tried for a small easy-going smile, but it felt strained even to her. 

Angelus looked at the desperation in the Slayers eyes and had to fight not to laugh in her face. He knew exactly why she was there, especially now while Cordelia was busy at cheer practice. The slayer was trying to be sneaky, and failing at it miserably.

"Sure we can talk. What did you want to talk about?" Making her spell it all out was always fun. Watching the girl who was feared the world over stutter and stammer was always an ego booster.

Angelus found Cordelia in the girls locker room, she was showering after her hard practice, the steam of the hot water wrapped around her like a lover. God she was beautiful! So much more appealing than the slayer. He knew she didn't know he was there so he simply stripped down and joined her. He waited until he was right behind her, his hands ghosting along her back before he said her name in a low voice.

"Cordelia."

Watching her jump and spin around, her eyes wide with fright did delicious things to him. God he wanted her.

"God Angel! Lurk much." He watched her hand press against her chest as her heart raced and her breasts heaved as she tried to calm herself.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it." She rolled her eyes in an expression of universal feminine ire as she stepped out from under the spray of water.

"What are you even doing here? I thought we were meeting up back at your apartment later." Even as she sounded irritated and put out, her body leaned towards him, an offering.

"We were, but I had an unexpected visitor, so I decided to just come here and find you instead. My apartment felt a little crowded." He saw the pieces begin to slot together for her even as she opened her mouth to ask.

"Who.. Buffy." Again she sounded resigned, like she thought it was only a matter of time before he came to his senses and left her for the slayer. 

"Got it in one."

"What did she want?" He heard the unasked question underneath, what did you decide? They both knew what she wanted, now she wanted to know what he chose to give her.

"Not what I gave her." Which was beyond true. 

He saw it take root in her mind that he wasn't leaving her, as if he would ever leave his vixen. He'd come to a conclusion in his apartment, while he was playing with the slayer, his vixen was perfect for him. She was adventurous (both in bed and out of it), vicious (she could reduce the slayer to tears with nothing but her biting wit), and she submitted to him most beautifully. She was like a sexy mix of Darla and Drusilla, his two best girls all rolled into one killer package. His perfect woman, and he would never let her go.

As his skilled hands slipped between her legs he saw the same thought reflected back to him in her eyes, they were forever.

Dru danced around the room while she waited for her daddy to come home, there was so much to tell him. The red witch was about to be very, very naughty. She could almost taste the strawberries in her mouth, it was marvelous.

"Soon miss Edith there will be another at our tea party. We're going to have a guest." Grabbing her friend up she twirled her around the room as she continued to wait for daddy. No matter, she would wait forever for him, her Angel.


	10. Uniquely You and Me

  


Oz stood in the center of the school library and waited. He figured here was as good a place as any to wait, being in the middle meant that no matter what direction Giles came from he would still see him. They needed to talk. He knew that Giles and he hadn’t really been all that buddy-buddy in the past, but he needed an adult males perspective on this one and Giles was the only one with all the info that fit the bill. It wasn’t like he could really go to just any adult about some of the stuff that goes on in his life, so that left Giles as the defacto councilor for them all.

“Oz?” Turning at the sound of his name he found the man he’d been looking for coming out of the stacks, books in hand as always.

“Hey.” Sometimes less was more, though he did realize that to have this conversation he would have to be a bit more verbose than was his norm.

“Did you need something?” Giles was looking around, most likely trying to find where the others had gone. It was fair, unless it was the full moon days, he didn’t come here without Willow. Only now he was here because of Willow.

“Uh, yeah, would it be alright if we talked for a minute? I got some stuff I’d like to run by you if you’ve got the time.” Watching the man take an actual physical step back, blinking rapidly at the request was both disconcerting and oddly gratifying.

“Yes, yes of course. I’m sorry you just caught me momentarily flat footed with that request. However, I believe I am sufficiently recovered. What was it you wished to speak about?”

How to bring it up? Willow was like a second daughter to the man, seconded only by Buffy, as far as he could tell. This might be one of the most uncomfortable conversations he’s ever had, but have it they must. He could feel it in his bones, there was something brewing, and he had the strangest sensation that Willow was going to be right in the center of it all.

“Normally I wouldn’t involve you in things between me and Willow. Putting a grown person in the middle of teen angst must be seven kinds of hell for you, but I really need some advice here. You see yesterday I saw Willow fighting with Cordelia about the Buffy Angel thing.”

“Oh dear, how did that fair for her? I do not understand it, Cordelia seemed to be coming around, albeit slowly, working her way towards practiced indifference.” He realized then his mistake, he hadn’t made the situation clear.

“No, you don’t understand, Willow was the aggressor.” His meek, loving, Willow had been on the attack.

“Dear me, are you sure?” He understood where he was coming from, it was a little hard to picture, and he’d been there to witness it himself.

“Absolutely. Cordelia was just leaving class when Willow started to… act very un-Willow. She said awful things, things that weren’t even true. Of course Cordelia didn’t take that lying down and she countered with her usual flare.” It was actually kinda cool seeing Cordelia go from relaxed to full out bitch mode in two seconds flat.

“And you came here looking for advice on how to diffuse the situation?” Oh how he wished that had been the end of it. That he could have handled, he found over the years that remaining calm around angry people tended to calm the entire situation. No, this was a bit trickier.

“No, you see after the fight I thought that with everything else falling down around her Cordelia should know that not everyone was out to get her. So I waited for her near her car and when she came out I told her that if she ever needed someone to talk to I was volunteering to listen. She didn’t believe me at first, I think she thought I was working with Willow setting her up for something, but eventually she caught on that I wasn’t too happy with the way Willow had ambushed her before. When she realized my offer was genuine she was so relieved, you should have seen her face Giles, that she hugged me and kissed me on the cheek.”

“So now you’ve developed feeling for Cordelia?”

“No! I swear, but Willow thinks I have. She saw Cordelia hug me and now she’s convinced that Cordelia is trying to steal me away from her like she stole Angel from Buffy. Willow was waiting for me at my house when I got home, she kept saying that Cordelia was trying to break us up that she was trying to homewreck the entire scooby gang. I kept trying to tell her what was really going on, but she just wouldn’t hear it. She thinks that I just can’t see what Cordelia’s doing because she’s blinding me with her feminine wiles. I haven’t seen her yet today, but she stormed out yesterday all mad, and I just don’t know what to do to make her see reason. This is very much not in my wheelhouse, you know what I mean?”

“Yes, quite understandable really, I don’t believe that anyone your age would be equipped to deal with this situation. I’m not even sure if I’m equipped to deal with it. I shall think on it, and maybe even consult Ms. Calendar for a female perspective of the entire mess, and I shall speak to you again this afternoon if that is alright with you.”

“Cool, see you then.” He turned to leave, the constant headache he’d been nursing since the day before finally beginning to recede.

“Out of curiosity, how did Willow fair in her clash with Cordelia?” Oz smiled at that, the memory still fresh in his mind, he didn’t even turn as he answered.

“About as well as could be expected for a Willow facing a Cordelia.”

Buffy looked at Willow and knew deep down that she would be on her side in this. She was her best friend, it was practically her job to be on her side in all things, it was in the handbook or something.

“So there I am in Angel’s apartment trying to be all nice and have an actual discussion about this whole Cordelia thing, with no judgment on my part, and what does he do. He kicks me out. It’s like she warped his brain or something. Now everything, I say about the slut seems like I’m being the bitch, no matter how nice I am about it. Does that seem fair to you?”

Willow was shaking her head vigorously. As she should. So, she was editing a little, that was allowed, it wasn’t like she would share every last detail about her time with Angel yesterday. She was just cutting it down to the relevant bits. That was all. All the rest wasn’t even worth mentioning.

Like how he’d turned her down…

_“What did you want to talk about?”_

_She’d made it into the apartment, that was half the battle won, or at least farther than she’d gotten lately. Maybe this meant that he was finally starting to see sense._

_“I wanted to talk about us. You and me. I get that Cordelia is probably totally mind twisting you and everything, and that’s why you’re being so hostile lately. Queen C has you thinking that you and me are of the past, but that is the furthest thing from the truth. You and me are like, always.”_

_There she’d said it, now it was his turn. He would turn to her any second, vowing his everlasting love and devotion. He’d tell her how Cordelia was just a convenient slut and that he wouldn’t even look at her from this moment on, that they were forever. He would grab her and- laugh?_

_“Wow, that was pathetic. Did that hurt? It sounded like it should have hurt. What is it going to take for this to get through to you? Cordelia isn’t messing with me, ending things with you was my decision and I did it before Cordelia felt my cock filling her up for the first time. Then again you know that since you were right over there watching me fuck her that night.”_

_This was so not going how she’s pictured. She didn’t want to think about that night, the night everything changed._

_“Don’t-”_

_He began to slowly circle around her as he spoke, his mouth inches from her skin._

_“Don’t what? Don’t remind you about how you stood right there with your face pressed up against the door watching me thrust into Cordelia’s soaking pussy? Don’t remind you about how the very sight of me taking her made you ache with need? We’ve been over this slayer, if you want something from me you earn it, just like she does. You beg for it, just like she does.”_

_His words brought back every naughty thought she’d had the night before. It made her remember the feeling of her fingers teasing her own flesh. God, she wanted him so badly._

_“Please.” The pleas slipped out without her permission. She hadn’t meant to beg him for anything, that wasn’t why she was here. He was supposed to grovel to her, to beg her for forgiveness._

_“Please what, you dirty slut?” She wasn’t a slut. She wasn’t. Cordelia was the slut!_

_“Please, touch me.” She needed his hands on her. She needed him to touch her aching flesh._

_“No, not good enough. Say it, slut.” She couldn’t, good girls didn’t say things like this, but if it got him to do what she wanted._

_“Fuck me.” She was looking into his eyes now, she could fill her own beginning to fill with unshed tears._

_“No.” That was it, all he said, before he turned and left the apartment. She stood there staring at the closed door as the tears finally began to fall. He was going to her, she knew he was, and that somehow made it so much worse. This was all her fault, it had to be._

“Yeah, this is all Cordelia’s fault. Did I tell you what she did with Oz yesterday?”

Cordelia did something with Oz? That bitch!

“What did she do?”

“She’s trying to steal him away from me. Oz denies it, but I know what I saw. He was talking to her by her car and at first she was all bitch face. Not even listening to him, and he was doing that eyebrow scrunch that means he was really thinking about his words, too. Then she just hugs him and kisses him, right there in the parking lot. In front of everyone! Oz says I’m over reacting, but then again he doesn’t think she’s trying to steal him away either. You don’t think I’m making it up do you?”

She shook her head. She wouldn’t put it past Cordelia to do something like that. If she could steal Angel away from her, there was no telling what she would do. For the first time in a long time she was actually glad that Xander didn’t have a other half, who knows what Cordelia would do to that poor girl. It was obvious now, Cordelia was trying to destroy her life.

First she took Angel away from her, and changed him with her skanky ways. Then she got Giles to side with her with her boo-hoo sob story, that probably wasn’t even true. Now she was after Oz. She had to be stopped.

Cordelia sat in the library and tried not to role her eyes. It looked like Giles would have to find his rhythm every session. So she didn’t even start paying attention until he started pacing, once lecture mode kicked in though, she was all ears.

“After Angelus was turned by Darla in 1753 she spent the next few years teaching him all about control and the vampire hierarchy before finally presenting him to her own sire, the vampire we knew as the Master, in 1760. By all accounts, stories told throughout the vampire community for decades afterwards, the meeting did not go as planned. Angelus was insolent, and insulting, eventually convincing Darla to part ways with her sire and remain at his side instead. The Master was not impressed, as you can imagine. Until this point such a thing was unheard of, for vampires the vampire that made them is normally placed above the ties to all others. Some have even been known to kill their own Childe at the behest of their Sire.”

“So their Sire is a big deal to a vampire?” Kind of like a parent? That they apparently sleep with, so not going there.

“Yes, to a vampire their Sire is their savior. The one that took them from their human life, whatever that may have been, and granted them new life as a vampire. That is a strong bond.”

“So then Angel killing Darla for Buffy was like going against everything right?” Did Angel feel bad about that? Should she say something? Would that make him mad? It wasn’t like she’d ever met Darla in person, not really, so would her saying something be seen as insincere?

“Yes it was, in fact it was unprecedented. It’s not unheard of for a vampire to kill their Sire, usually after centuries of un-life, to move up in the vampire hierarchy. However, what Angel did, killing his Sire for the sake of the Slayer. That is unheard of.” So maybe she shouldn’t mention it.

“After his presentation to the Master, and the fallout from that, it wasn’t long before Angelus and Darla both became the targeted fixation of a human vampire hunter by the name of Daniel Holtz. This man had quite an impressive record of vampire kills, in fact I believe he was only ever surpassed by the Slayer herself. Then in 1764, after over a year of a cat and mouse game between the two Angelus and Darla decided to bring the fight to him, so to speak. They set a trap for him, luring him out of his home, while they proceeded to slaughter the mans family. According to his final records before his own disappearance, they killed his wife and youngest child brutally, left him an even greater horror to discover upon his return.”

“What?” What could be worse than the bodies of your family?

“They had turned his eldest child into a vampire, a young girl around the age of eight or nine I believe. They left her dispatchment to him. It is written that he stayed in the house with her and the bodies of his family until around mid-day, when he dragged his child from their home onto the porch, before he tossed her out into the deadly light of day where she burned.”

How awful. She was beyond glad that Darla was dead and that Angelus was Angel now. She doubted the world would have survived centuries of those two together.

“Details of what they did after that are sketchy at best for a time, suffice it to say that hunters had little to do with them after what they had done to Daniel Holtz and his family. There really is no record of them until around 1786 or so when it seems that Angelus decided to try his hand at becoming a Sire himself. He turned a young puritan known only as Penn. He spent the next decade or so teaching his young protégé everything he knew about being a vampire, going so far as to helping the creature kill his own human family as he himself had done. Darla and he eventually abandoned the vampire they’d made to travel the world once more. They traveled alone for a time until 1860 when they came across Drusilla. That however is a story for tomorrow. Now it’s time for training.”

Cordelia stifled a yawn as she made her way across the parking lot towards her car. Her day had been long, but completely worth it. Giles was really kicking her but during those training sessions, but her cheer training was starting to kick in and she was keeping up. Not as well as she would have liked, yet, but she was getting better. Even Giles was impressed with her progress.

As she sat in the drivers seat she moved to put the key in the ignition and stopped. Something was wrong. She knew her car knew the feel of it, it was her pride and joy seconded only by her wardrobe, and something was different. She could feel herself start to hyperventilate, the last time she’d had a feeling like this was the night she’d found Rosa. No! She wouldn’t think about that. She would just, simply, turn around. Everything was fine where she was, so whatever she was feeling had to be coming from the backseat. It was probably nothing, just her overactive imagination teaming up with her paranoia to give her a good scare. Yeah that was it, there was nothing there, all she had to do was turn and look to confirm that. Just –

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

There papering her backseat from one end to the other were charcoal drawings. That alone wouldn’t have made her scream, it would have freaked her out sure and made her go running to Giles in the Library, but that wasn’t what made her scream.

Some of them were simple, just her sleeping or cheering, mundane everyday activities. Confirming that this guy, whoever he was, was watching her. Shiver worthy in its self, but not scream worthy. No, the scream was for the others, the ones that hadn’t happened yet. The ones she hoped would never happen. The ones that showed her in various stages of torture, some of which she’d never even heard of before, but if the look on her face was anything to go by were painful beyond belief. The rest were of her in various sex acts, each one more lewd than the last, and from the look on her face then she was enjoying it greatly. What made her eyes well up with tears was the MISSING flyer with her name and picture on it, saying that she’d last been seen two weeks from today.

Fumbling with the door handle she fell out of her car, scrambled to her feet and ran straight for the library. Never once looking back, and never seeing the yellow eyes of the vampire that had been watching her every move with a smirk across his lips.

Buffy was standing with Willow at the Bronze, Dingoes Ate My Baby were playing and Will was basking in the boyfriend band experience yet again. It would never get old seeing that goofy smile on her face every time Oz took the stage to play. Of course, if Slut C had her way that smile would be wiped away forever, but she and Willow had a plan for that now. They’d talked about it for hours and knew exactly what to do now to help everyone else see the truth that they were missing.

Cordelia stood up on the balcony in the Bronze with a drink in her hand, vodka thanks to her knowing the bartender, and tried to get her hands to stop shaking. She’d gone to Giles after the incident in her car, who’d promptly taken everything out of her car and tried to get her to stay with him until she’d calmed down. She couldn’t, she couldn’t be in the same building as those horrible drawings. Deciding she didn’t want to be home alone either, not after that, she’d driven automatically to the Bronze. She could see Buffy and her loser troupe down below her, but she didn’t even have the energy to try to care about that now.

When she felt a hand begin to drift up her leg she finally relaxed, Angel. She knew she was safe now, he wouldn’t let anything happen to her, her Angel.

Angelus stood behind his vixen and enjoyed the slight trembling of her body, everything else he’d managed to do to her had some effect, but this was different. This was a true reaction, she was so terrified now that she was still shaking over an hour later. Letting his hand ghost up her leg, he couldn’t stop, he needed her now.

“Learn forward.” Watching her obey him without question was nirvana. Pressing his body flush against her, he could see the Slayer over her shoulder and wasn’t that just perfect. Hooking his thumbs in her panties he torn them down with one quick jerk, making her body slam back against him for a minute and her breath hitch in surprise. Her eyes began to drift closed as he lined himself up to fuck into her waiting warmth, here and now.

“Oh no, you keep your eyes open. Look down at all those people, they have no idea what you’re letting me do to you. Look at them, imagine their reaction if they knew what a whore you are, letting me have you right here in front of them all.” He punctuated his last word with one hard thrust that sank him into her to the hilt, she was so wet just from the sound of his voice that he slid right in. They were now as connected as they could be.

Seeing her eyes stop drifting he didn’t even have to look, to see what it was she was focused on, or rather who she was focused on. Buffy. Every thrust of his cock made her look more smug as she stared at the Slayer. He didn’t have to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking.

Glancing around he noticed that they were already in a bit of a corner, while they could see everyone with the poor lighting someone would have to actively look for them to be able to see them. Deciding to see just how far he could push her, he ran his hands up her stomach and over her chest until he was gripping the neckline of her top. He began to pull it down slowly, giving her time to feel it past the haze of pleasure.

Her body stiffened, her pussy clenching around his cock, when she finally realized what he wanted. Her hands automatically flew up to catch his and hold them in place. Her eyes darting one way, then the other, as she looked to see if anyone had seen. Coming to the same conclusion that he had, she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood before she began to guide his hands down herself, more and more, until her naked breasts sprang free. Her hands still firmly on his, she lead him back up to them, her back arched just enough to give him what he wanted.

“Please.” That was it one word, barely a whisper, a plea for more. A plea for him.

Both of his hands squeezing and kneading her bountiful breasts he used his grip on them to hold her closely against him as he thrust into her harder and harder.

Cordelia couldn’t believe she was doing this, that she was letting him do this to her, here of all places. Hell half the school was here. What if someone saw? As his thrusting cock hit her just right to make her moan her mind started to become fuzzy. Who cares who saw, as long as he didn’t stop.

“Yes.” She could feel his breath against her neck as he spoke to her, his words so wrong, but so hot.

“You little slut, you love it don’t you. Are you so hungry for my cock you’ll let me fuck you anywhere? So tight, don’t worry I’ll take care of you whore, all you have to do is ask. Can you do that? Can you ask me for what you want? Say it.”

“Please, fuck my pussy, need you, so good. Make me cum, right here, in front of everyone. I don’t care who sees, I just want your big hard cock inside of me. Please.” Every time they fucked, he always wanted her to say it, to beg for it, to tell him how it felt. She’d been a little hesitant at first, no other guy had ever wanted to hear anything other than moaning and screaming from her before. But the more they did it the more she saw the appeal, having the person you’re with beg you to do things to them, to tell you exactly what they wanted you to do to them.

His thrusts became more frantic and harder, she loved it. One of his hands drifted down to her neglected clit and began to rub up and down her thigh. Each pass getting closer and closer without actually touching her, she knew what he wanted her to say, but she drew it out driving them both wild with need.

“Oh god, I beg you, use me, make me cum. I need to feel it.” He chuckled against her neck, his face now buried against her shoulder, as he began to rub against her quivering nub.

One of his hands was still fondling her breast, but it wasn’t enough. Raising her hand up she began to pinch and pull at the nipple of her abandoned tit. It felt so good, all of it together, she was so close.

“Bite me! Feed from me, with the Slayer down there oblivious, take me.” Feeling his fangs break the skin of her neck, combined with the pleasure of everything, made her cum so hard she could catch her breath enough to scream. Yes!

Angelus pulled one last time at the wound he’d made on her neck. That was so good. Feeding and fucking with the Slayer ten feet away, ignorant. He’d never cum so hard in his life, and it was all thanks to his Vixen.


	11. Of Men and Madness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Giles tells Cordelia about Drusilla, and Willow gets her magic on.

  


  


The weekend spent with his Vixen was amazing, she was always so insatiable, so eager to please him. They had done nothing but feed and fuck for hours on end, sometimes she wanted to talk about a few trivial things, and depending on the subject he even allowed it on occasion. She was beginning to really confide in him, see him as her salvation, it was hilarious.

She'd told him about the MISSING flyers she'd found in her car, she was nervous because the last seen date was this coming Monday. She'd gone through plan after plan with him, in between bouts of fucking, for what to do. He'd convinced her to just go to school like she would any other day, she was safest in public after all.

Drusilla had told him that things were going to change in the coming days, that the naughty little witch was going to get her magic on. Come tomorrow his Vixen was going to be forever changed, in his favor. So tonight he was going to make the most of her.

He watched her as she slowly began to strip as she swayed to the music. Her every movement sensual and seductive. His private little dancer. She rivaled Darla in her ability to get him hard with little more than a look and a smile. He couldn't wait until she was all his, until Angel was no more than a distant memory for them both.

As she straddled him, her eyes bright with wanton need, he ran his hand up her thigh towards her pussy to feel her readiness. Dancing for him got her soaking, then again he'd noticed that simply making him want her made her that way. Thrusting up he buried himself in her hot core for the fifth time that night alone. 

“Ride me.”

As he watched her move up and down, her rhythm frantic and needy he smiled.

“Don't cum until I let you.”

That was something else he'd noticed, and admired, about his little vixen slut. She loved being told what to do in bed, being commanded by her master. Which came in real handy since he loved commanding her.

“Yes!”

No! Cordelia sat in the library waiting for Giles to start the new lecture, he'd told her that they were almost to the end of the big moments of Angelus's life, if she wanted they could move on to Angel after, but she didn't know if that would be crossing a line or not. At the moment she couldn't even think straight.

Angel hadn't let her cum all night long, even this morning when she tried to plead for mercy by blowing him in the shower he just smiled and called her a good girl. She was wound so tightly she just knew she was going to explode, but no matter how uncomfortable she was she would not miss a word of this. Giles was going to tell her about Drusilla today, _finally_ , she was going to pay attention damn it.

“Drusilla is widely viewed, in the demon community, as Angelus' masterpiece. A testament to his unlimited artistry in the art of torture. It's said that it actually was not Angelus himself who targeted Drusilla from the beginning, but Darla. That she found a young pure woman and gifted her life to Angelus as a sort of present in 1860, by this point Darla and Angelus had been together for over a century. 

“Drusilla had a prophetic paranormal ability while she was human, she could see the future, and that only intrigued Angelus more. “

“She could see the future? Handy.” Why couldn't she do something like that, maybe if she could she would have seen this sick bastard stalking her coming from a mile off and been able to veer out of his path. Then again, being able to see shit coming hadn't really helped Drusilla at all, had it.

“Not for her it wasn't, I'm afraid. You see Drusilla grew up in the time of intolerance towards such mysticisms, an ability like hers was seen as an affront to the Lord. It was widely believed at the time that anyone who could see what was to come was committing blasphemy, as only God himself was meant to see the future unfold before its time. It is more than likely that she was made to fear her gift, and see it as a sin.”

“Harsh. So what did Angelus do to her?” Did he use her gift against her?

“He tormented her psychologically for quite some time, and her already fragile mind shattered under the strain. He killed her entire family, forcing her to watch the slaughter, before allowing her to flee for her life. That horror coupled with the added strain of her visions sent her running where any good Christian girl of the time would seek refuge, a convent.”

“That's that place with all the nuns right? My dad threatened to send me to one once. Why didn't she just go to a friend?” If something truly god awful happened to her she knew she would go through an entire phonebook of friends before she resorted to something so drastic as nuns.

“She did not have any friends to turn to I'm afraid. The stigma of her visions would have kept most people away from her, back then it was believed that associating with someone so afflicted would cause you yourself to become cursed along side them. What few acquaintances she did have, Angelus killed.”

Brutal.

“After fleeing to the convent, The Sisters of Mercy I believe, Drusilla devoted her life to God choosing to become a nun herself. It took some months for her to become ready to take her holy orders, and during this time Angelus stayed away. Unfortunately this was not a sign that his obsession was lessening, quite the opposite in fact. It is well known that Angelus has a very special hatred towards the holy, nuns in particular, so her choice to become one herself only fanned the flames of his obsession even more. The day she was to take her vows to become a nun Angelus attacked the church, killing everyone inside. What little sanity Drusilla had managed to retain after witnessing the slaughter of her family was destroyed as she was forced to watch the slaughter at the church.”

Wow, she'd wanted to know more about Angelus but the more she learned the less she wished she knew. Though some of this was ringing a bell for her, a very distant bell, but there was something just out of reach that she just knew was important. Internally shrugging she knew it would come to her eventually whatever it was.

“If Drusilla was insane, why turn her? I mean wouldn't her insanity sort of make having her live forever a bad plan all around?” She knew she didn't understand this vampire thing all the way, all the time, but not turning the crazies of the world seemed like a no brainer rule to her.

“Normally that would be the case yes, however, Angelus wanted her alive for several reasons. One she was to be a living testament to his brutality, a walking monument for all to see. Two, he imagined that killing her would only release her from her suffering, and he was not a particularly merciful individual at the best of times. And three, I suspect, was because of all the time he had taken with creating her, so to speak. He had spent months carefully maneuvering her life in just the way he wanted it until she too was just the way he had imagined her becoming.”

“So turning her was a vanity thing?” So like a guy.

“I suppose, yes, yes it was. Angelus had carefully and precisely picked her well ordered life apart, scaring her and almost courting her in equal measure. I believe that when it came time to kill her, he simply could not bring himself to do so.”

Scaring her and courting her? Like flirting with fear? Like the guy who was following her was doing? That bell in the back of her mind began to ring even louder now. No! She would not listen to it, there was just no way what she was thinking was right. She was just sleep deprived and paranoid. Seeing threats where they weren't, that's all.

Angelus was gone.

Angel kept her safe.

Angel was one of the good guys now, everyone said so. Even Giles. 

If Angel had become Angelus again someone would have noticed, he didn't sound like a lay low kind of guy after all. Of course that hadn't happened, Angelus was cursed, but couldn't curses be broken. 

She closed her eyes and let Giles drone on about what he would delve into next if she wanted to know as she just nodded along not really hearing a word he spoke.

Could Angels' curse be broken? If it could, how would they know? How would something like that even happen? Had it happened?

Willow could not believe it. Oz, her Oz, had just broken up with her. All she'd done was tell him how Buffy was being mistreated by the world around her, which she was, like any good best friend would do and he'd suggested they cool things off between them. Cool things off, she knew what that meant, she wasn't naïve about these things. Cool things off meant that he wanted to heat things up with someone else. Cordelia! 

It had to be Cordelia's fault that he was acting this way. First she'd put the wammy on Angel, turning the bestest boyfriend in the world against his soul-mate. Now here she was doing it all over again. She probably didn't even want Oz. Oz wasn't even her type, too deep and Oz like. No, she was only doing this because she stuck up for Buffy, and told her what a B-I-T-C-H she was being and this was her punishment. 

Well, enough was enough already. 

Ever since kindergarten Queen C had ruled the school and everyone in it, no more. She wasn't a puny little girl afraid of her own shadow anymore. She was a scoobie, best friend to the slayer, and a powerful witch besides.

She was a powerful witch. That was it! Why hadn't she thought of it before? Magic! That was the answer. She knew just the spell too.

Cordelia made her way down to the boiler room, Angel had made her promise to meet him down there before cheer practice. He'd let her cum if she was a good girl, so here she was. Hearing about Drusilla and all the horrid things Angelus had done to her had killed her aching need, but now that she was making her way down the stairs to where she knew he'd be waiting for her it came back with a vengeance.

“Angel?” The room was so dark she could barely see anything at all, she could make on the outlines of some of the equipment, but she couldn't see anyone moving around. This place had given her the creeps ever since that girl was attacked last year, before then it had been a pretty popular hang out spot for anyone looking for a little privacy.

She was just about to turn around and make her way back to the top of the stairs where there was more light to wait when a very familiar pair of hands began to snake their way around her waist.

“You scared me, why didn't you answer me when I called your name?” She'd meant for it to sound like a scolding, or at least a protest, but she was so breathless with need that it came out as more of a distracted question that she didn't really care about. To be fair when she felt his hands start to shift her skirt out of the way that's exactly what it became.

“Do you want to play a game?” Feeling her breath hitch she could only nod her ascent. She loved his games.

Feeling him begin to tug her towards the back of the room she followed behind him eagerly, when he came to a stop he jerked her around until her back was against him, his hands on her shoulders shoving her upper body forward until her hands gripped the cold wet metal pipes just above her head.

The silky feel of her panties falling down her leg made her moan.

“Eager?” She could hear the laughter in his voice but she didn't care. Not then. All she cared about was how close she was to him. The feel of his fingers ghosting over her aching flesh as he spread her juices down her thighs.

“I want to feel you inside me. Please!”

“Don't worry, you'll feel me, every inch of me. Which should I fuck first? Ass or pussy?” His hands continued to roam over her lower half, dipping and spreading her.

“Whichever you want, please, I'm yours. Take me!” Feeling his hands roam higher she almost screamed her frustration. As her low cut blouse was pulled down over her breasts he pressed his mouth against her ear.

The steam from the hot pipes in front of her began to make her sweat and pant. Though that probably had more to do with the hot vampire behind her.

“Every game should have rules, here are mine. You don't get anything you don't beg for. You don't ask me to stop, if you do it's game over. You don't cum without my permission, if you do you will be punished. Do you still want to play baby?”

“Mmmm yes! Play with me.” Tightening her grip on the pipes she rubbed her thighs together for emphasis.

Thrusting into her ass, the force of his movements rocked her body forward until she almost touched the scorching pipe in front of her.

“Ahhh!”

“You like it don't you? Being fucked here and now, with so many people just beyond that door. One scream a little too loud and one of them could come down here to see if you needed help, then what would you do? Would you try to explain? Or would you be so far gone you would just keep begging for my cock? Hmmmm? Do you want my cock, slut?”

“Yes! Please give it to me harder.” Her vision was blurred with unshed tears, her breath catching in her throat until she felt like she was dying. More!

His next thrust rocked her so hard her nipples brushed against the heated pipe, the pain ripping through her body, but lost in the pleasure of her wanton need.

“Please!”

“Please what? Say it.” His thrusts began to slow, and she began to weep. No! Not again! She needed this.

“Please fuck my ass, make me cum like only you can!”

“Cum for me, let me hear you!”

“Ahhhhh!”

 

Willow sat in her room, her anger keeping her tears at bay. Life had been perfect before she ruined everything, like she always did. She'd had a boyfriend, a happy best friend, everything had been great. Then she went and put her claws so deep into Angel that she'd made him doubt everything. Then she'd turned on the water works and made Giles and Oz switch to her side. It just wasn't fair! She was in the wrong and still everyone took her side.

Not anymore!

She'd found the spell by accident months ago, she hadn't understood what it was meant for then, now she knew it was meant for situations just like this. It was meant for greedy, boyfriend stealing, bitches. It was meant for Queen C!

This would fix everything, it would make everything go back to the way it was, back to when the world was still sane and made sense. Back to when everyone could see Cordelia for what she really was, a jealous skank.

Cordelia was making a few final adjustments to her outfit, she couldn't go back upstairs looking like she'd just had some of the best sex of her life. It might be true, but she didn't want to advertise with Snyder roaming the halls even after hours. Honestly the little troll seemed to have no life at all.

She was more than a little uncomfortable for the moment, her bra was rubbing against the burns she'd gotten in some very sensitive areas, but she wouldn't change this for the world. Angel had been a little rough, but she was okay with that, it just showed how much he cared about her. She still wasn't stupid enough to think that he loved her, but the fact that he didn't feel he needed to coddle her or to hide his baser desires from her said he at least cared enough to be honest with her. 

She couldn't believe that she'd even thought he was Angelus again. Sure there were some similarities between what happened to Drusilla and what was being done to her, but that could mean anything. It could just be basic stuff that every psycho creep tried out, like a part of the stalker how-to guide or something. Still.

“Angel can I ask you a question?” Why? Why did she ask that? Now she'd have to follow through with this. Not that she was shy or anything, but if he wasn't going back to Buffy on his own she didn't exactly want to give him a nudge in that direction. Nudge hell this would be an all out shove, if she was wrong.

“Sure.”

“Do you promise to be honest?”

“Just ask me Cordelia.” Okay, he didn't sound all that annoyed, more like any guy would when a girl starts asking questions before the post orgasm glow can dim down on its own.

“Okay so this is going to sound real strange, but I've been having Giles tell me a little bit about you. Not **you** you, but the old you. Don't blame Giles I totally like blackmailed him into it or whatever, after that whole scoobie meeting disaster I realized I didn't know a thing about you, which didn't seem right considering how often you'd seen me naked by that point. Well anyway today Giles told me what happened between you and Drusilla and I noticed some, things. So my question.” Looking up from where she'd been staring at the floor since her little impromptu speech began she saw she had his undivided attention. He was staring at her just waiting for her to finish. 

How could she though? What was the best way of asking the guy you're sleeping with, hell the guy you just had sex with, if he was really his own evil twin? She supposed she could ask about the one major, easy, difference between Angel and Angelus.

“What's your name?”

As she asked she felt a wave of pure power wash over her. Her mind began to jumble and blur, but she was sure before she lost her grip on everything that she heard his answer.

“Angelus.”


	12. Talking to Myself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willows spell does more than she ever intended.

  


Cordelia looked around her, at the mist filling the space she was in, she couldn’t see anything.

“Hello!” She felt like she’d been there forever already, but at the same time she knew she’d only been stuck for a short time. It was like time didn’t mean anything to her anymore, a few minutes was the same as a few hours.

There was no answer to her shout, except for the echo that came back to her of her own voice. She was alone. Lately being alone anywhere had become her worst fear, being isolated away from anyone who could help her, wondering if the sick twist that was stalking her was just behind her waiting… watching.

Turning around quickly, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end, she found nothing but more mist and darkness. Faintly she could hear a voice in the distance, it sounded familiar almost comforting. Running towards it she soon realized that no matter how fast she ran she didn’t really move at all. The voice, though, got closer and closer until she could finally recognize the rise and fall of it.

Giles.

_**“Now Cordelia, you must pay attention.”**_ That was it, just that one sentence over and over, like a CD stuck on repeat.

“Giles!” Even with her voice echoing all around her, Giles’ voice didn’t change at all, it was like he couldn’t hear her.

What if he couldn’t? Where the hell was she?

_“You’re here with me.”_ Jerking around she stared into dark brown eyes, and finally let out the scream she’d been holding in since she first woke up here in this limbo.

“Ahhhhh!”

Angelus swept Cordelia up his arms, this was a new development. Drusilla had told him that Willow or as she called her the naughty red witch, would cast a spell on Cordelia that would change everything, but seeing the spell take hold was amazing. Her eyes actually rolled back into her head before she began to crumble before his eyes, she was out cold.

Time to play the hero. So exhausting.

“Giles!” The old librarian took one look at the unconscious girl in his arms and promptly began to clean his glasses. The English were so strange sometimes, especially in a crisis.

“Good heavens, what happened to her?”

“I don’t know, we were talking and she just collapsed.” Which was mostly the truth, except for the whole not knowing part, it would be more fun to let them all puzzle it out together, as a team.

“There’s a small sofa in my office we can lay her there while we try to figure out what’s happened. I’ll gather my books.”

“You think it’s mystical?” Huh, he thought the old man would have jumped to a more mundane conclusion first like he did when things happened to Xander that were out of character. If it wasn’t happening to Buffy, he always checked for real world culprits first.

“I believe so yes, Cordelia received a flyer from her admirer earlier this week proclaiming she would go missing on this day. We had assumed, incorrectly it would seem, that her stalker had intended to take her, when it would seem he truly meant to do this.”

Good guess, the flyer had been referring to the spell after all, but he wasn’t the one who cast it. It would just break the old mans heart when he finally put together who was really responsible, he couldn’t wait to see it.

Cordelia couldn’t believe it, she was starring at… herself. A really trashy version anyway. The other her was in a corset that revealed her breasts and a pair of matching black lace panties with high heels and nothing else. It was porno Cordy.

What the hell.

“What the hell are you wearing?” She would never wear something like that, well not outside of the bedroom anyway.

_“Oh come on, you know this would be his ideal outfit. He would so totally flip for it.”_ As she spoke the healed bite marks peppering her breasts began to bleed again, leaving no mistake to who she was talking about.

“Who are you, because you most certainly aren’t me.” She would never behave this way, would she?

_“I most certainly am you, just a less central part. I’m the part that he’s brought out in you, the version that never saw the light of day before he took you for the first time. I’m the dark part of you that enjoys it every time he ties us down and plays with us until the pleasure of it becomes the pain of it. I’m what you’re becoming.”_

“No way. I would never become you!” She would never be so, cheap.

_“Yes way, and how would you know, you don’t know me. Yet. Hell you don’t even really know him, but you will before you rejoin the land of the living. That’s what this is all about, seeing what’s really going on in the world around you, seeing the truth.”_

“How would you know the truth? If you’re me you should be just as much in the dark as I am.” Not that she was in the dark, she knew stuff.

_“Pay attention, I am you but I’m the version of you that gets ignored. I’m that voice in the back of your mind, the one that keeps whispering to you that you’re missing something, the one that made you ask him his name.”_

Suddenly more voices were echoing around the dark mist, hers and Angels.

_**“What’s your name?”** _

_**“Angelus.”** _

No, that can’t be right, she was just remembering it that way because that’s what she was afraid he was going to say. This was just a silly nightmare, the things you fear always show up in nightmares.

_“That’s why you’re here, you keep coming up with excuses for not seeing the truth, but here in the mist you won’t be able to avoid it any longer. There will be nothing here to distract you from it. Nothing here to hide behind.”_

She wasn’t hiding! Was she?

What if it was true? What if he really had lost his soul? What if he was Angelus again? The same Angelus she’d just spent over a week learning about, and being grateful she’d never met. What if Angel was evil. What would she do then?

_“I’ll show you. I’ll show you everything.”_

Just like that the mist changed and swirled around her.

Willow didn’t know what the big emergency was that had Giles pulling them all from their last class of the day, but she could guess. It was an apology! The spell had worked and now Giles saw that he’d been a big meanie to them for no good reason and now he wanted to apologize.

Ooooh, maybe there would be cookies. She loved Giles cookies or as he called them biscuits. They were so yummy and only for special occasions like I’m sorry’s.

Pushing the door open she saw Giles already there with Oz and Angel, woohoo a blanket apology. Now Buffy and Angel can get back together. Oz can stop being so stubborn about the whole thing and they can both get back on track to their happily ever after bliss they had been headed to before Queen C messed everything up for them.

Seeing them all in the doorway off came Giles glasses.

“Good you’re all here, something has happened to Cordelia.”

What? That couldn’t be why there were here. Maybe this thing with Cordelia was just distracting them all from their I’m sorry cookies. It was probably no big deal anyway, she was just looking for some attention since the spell helped everyone to see her for the faker she really was.

“It seems as though someone has cast a spell upon her, and now we can not wake her. You will all be needed for research, we need to find the right spell to counter it, or failing that at least identify the original spell so we can have some idea of the after effects.”

What?

Cordelia looked around, she was in the school library, only it too was foggy with mist. What was she doing here? One of the walls was a blank, bright, white almost like a movie screen for those old projectors they use for slides. Just as her hand was about to touch it, it came to life, playing out scenes from her life too fast for her to really see them.

_“Are you ready to see now?”_ She didn’t even look over at her **other** self, they hadn’t even really begun and she was already tired of this whole thing. She just wanted it to be over.

“Do I have a choice?” It wasn’t like she could just shut her eyes and refuse to look. Knowing herself, the other her would just narrate the whole thing.

_“There’s always a choice. You can choose to stay in the dark about everything, and that’s exactly what will happen. You’ll stay. Here. In the mist.”_

“So I either do what you want or you keep me hostage in my own mind for the rest of ever?” Yeah that was balanced.

_“This isn’t what I want, it’s what you need. If you’re going to survive the coming times you need to know exactly who and what you’re surrounded by. More importantly you need to know who and what you really are. What you’re capable of. More importantly you need to know where you stand in the light of day. Who you choose to be when there are no more shadows left for the truth the hide in.”_

Wow, trampy her was really deep. Who knew.

“Alright then, let’s get this whole thing started then.” The sooner it started the sooner she could wake up from this whole nightmare and get on with her life.

_“As you wish.”_

Willow couldn’t believe that her spell had backfired so badly. It wasn’t supposed to do anything to Cordelia but expose her as the B-I-T-C-H that she really was to Giles and Oz and Angel so they could go back to being their normal selves. The people they were before Cordelia got her claws into them. It was supposed to get Cordelia kicked out of the group, not make her the center of attention all over again.

She’d gone over and over the spell in her mind, again and again trying to find where she messed up. The spell was supposed to reveal the truth about Cordelia, not knock her out. The spell must have been faulty. That was the only explanation, the only one that makes sense anyway. She had been too careful to have made a mistake so the mistake must have come from the spell its self.

She was just bummed out that now Cordelia was everyones focus, if it had worked out right then Oz and Angel wouldn’t be right now too focused on _her_ to see her and Buffy. Mainly she felt bad for Buffy, she knew she and Oz would work things out, eventually. All Cordelia did to them was make them have one little stupid fight, they would get over it soon enough, every couple had their little ups and downs after all. Buffy though, Cordelia had snatched Angel away from her completely, without the spell really doing what she’d intended there really was no hope for the two of them.

Not that she would ever say that to Buffy, she knew how important the hope of maybe was sometimes, especially when dealing with oblivious boys.  
Buffy kept trying to keep her focus on the book Giles had shoved at her, but her eyes kept bouncing back to Angel. Could this be it, her opening? Sure Cordelia wasn’t around to interfere right now, but she was still the center of his whole focus. Would it be better to wait?

Wait! She knew what to do, she’d pull a Cordelia. She’d wait until the group broke up then offer to go with Angel back to his apartment, just to talk, to be there for him during this trying time. Then when he was finding comfort in her arms, she would help him get over Cordelia. Brilliant.

Xander didn’t know what to feel at the moment. Yeah he hated Cordelia, more out of habit at this point than anything else, but that didn’t mean he wanted to see her hurt. Before they had started their spell search Giles had run through a quick overview of everything that had happened to Cordy so far, everything from finding her dead housekeeper to the flyers left in her car.

When it had all been happening one little thing after another, coupled with the things happening to Buffy, plus the relationship dramas that had continually intruded Cordelia’s problems hadn’t seemed so bad. In fact he’d agreed with Willow that Cordelia was just milking the whole thing for sympathy, that she was playing it up so that she could tap into Angels hero complex and keep him from running back to the Buffster.

Now, hearing it all laid out one thing after the next and knowing that it had all happened over a few weeks, he felt sick to his stomach. Cordelia must have been terrified and they hadn’t helped one bit, always sniping at her, and trying to make her go away. They were supposed to be the good guys, the defenders of the earth and all who walked upon it, but when it came to this one girl that they each had history with that promise went out the window. If they were really heroes the past never should have mattered when Cordelia came to them for help. If they were really good people, the only thing that should have mattered was that she needed them, not that she had been a mean kid among other mean kids way back when.

They had failed her, but he wouldn’t do it again. He might be the guy who made all kinds of mistakes, but if he had anything to say about it he would be the guy who learned from those mistakes and became a better man. Actually focusing on the research and trying to help Cordelia would be a good first step, apologizing to her when they finally got her back would probably be his second step. What he would do after that he didn’t know yet, but at this point knowing what he was going to do now would have to be enough.

Oz didn’t like the thoughts in his head, but he couldn’t shake them either. There was something wrong with Willows face. He knew she didn’t like Cordelia but hearing that she was hurt should have caused her to go straight to Willow worry face. Not this. She looked angry. She looked like she did right after a test that she didn’t do as well on as she thought she had, the one that just screamed ‘what did I do wrong, I knew the source material’, but what could she be thinking about that put that look on her face now.

He thought he knew, but he didn’t want to know it. If they didn’t come up with something by the time that Giles sent everyone home to get some rest and check in with their parents he would bring it up. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to. He hoped he was just imagining what was wrong with Willows face.

Giles rubbed at his abused eyes, the strain of looking through book after book was getting to him. He supposed now would be the time to call a halt, no one would be of any use if they could no longer comprehend what they were reading, they could gloss over the answer without meaning to.

As he watched Buffy approach Angel and offer a shoulder of support to him, he couldn’t stop the shiver of unease that rocked his whole body. There was something in the offer that made him begin to think unkindly towards his slayer and he didn’t like it. Buffy wasn’t that sort of girl, the kind to use the misfortune or tragedy of another to further her own ends with a boy she likes. She wouldn’t use Cordelia’s condition in an attempt to regain Angel’s lost affections, that would be beneath her.

Shaking his head he decided he was simply tired and seeing things that weren’t really there. So much time looking for malicious intent within his books must be affecting him more than he had realized, now he was seeing ill intent everywhere. A good nights sleep would put him to rights, not that he expected to get that with Cordelia in her current state, but a few hours of rest would do the trick all the same.

It had been decided that Cordelia would stay at his home with him, since it was the only place that not only had no uninformed adults to ask questions, but it also was off limits to all vampires so she should be safe on all fronts with him.

Seeing Oz waiting for him near his office, he resigned himself to going without sleep for a short time longer, the younger man seemed hell bent on speaking to him about something. With Oz it was likely important and worth listening to.

Angelus looked over at Buffy who had offered to walk him home. He knew what she was planning, all he needed to decide now was if he was going to play along. If he did then when Cordelia was restored he could play the injured party and maybe even turn the Watcher and wolf boy completely against the Slayer. At the same time that would mean he would have to sleep with her again and he didn’t know if he could take the syrupy sweetness of it all again.

What to do, what to do. He supposed he had at least until they reached his apartment to come up with a decision. Either way this was going to be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N – So should Angelus play along with Buffy's plan? Next chapter Cordelia will be shown things to help her figure out the truth, what do you think she should see? I have some ideas but I love getting suggestions.


	13. Give Me My Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cordelia is shown her life from a different perspective, and the scoobies shift a little further.

  


Cordelia looked at the scene playing out before her eyes. She didn’t understand what she was seeing at first. It was her walking up to her house, but why would she be shown this, let alone be shown it first.

_**“Angelus would always be waiting in the shadows watching the suffering he had caused. It was his own little private show, one he created and enjoyed with great fervor.”** _

Giles words once again floated on the wind around her, she didn’t even bother to look around for him this time knowing he wasn’t there. No, her focus was completely on the scenes playing or really replaying on the walls, they were what she remembered but they were so much more.

As she walked towards her front door the focus shifted from her to someone standing in the shade of the trees just beyond her view. It was Angel, if she’d glanced over she would have seen him, but why was he there? Why show her this night? It seemed like just any other night to her. Then her scream pierced the air, and he smiled, and she knew.

This was when it all started, when Angelus first came into her life in a big way. This, whatever it was, was showing her what she missed. It was showing her everything in a new light so she would know the truth she’d been trying to hide from for far too long.

What was it that _skanky_ not her said? _That’s what this is all about, seeing what’s really going on in the world around you, seeing the truth._ The only problem was, she didn’t think she wanted to see the truth, because once she knew for sure what she already thought she knew, there would be no going back.

The flickering of the lights dragged her eyes back up from the floor towards the “screen”. Here we go again.

It was their first time together, only she was seeing it from a different angle, almost like she was looking at them from someone elses eyes. It wasn’t until the past her had fallen asleep that she saw whose.

Buffy!?

What had she been doing in Angels closet? Why hadn’t she come out or made a noise or something when she heard them come in? Why did she watch them? Then another voice began to surround her, a conversation she’d all but forgotten about.

_**“I’m telling you Willow it’s true I saw the whole thing. She was all over him like the slut she is. The only thing I can think is that he’s trying to make me jealous and she was the first easy lay he came across.”** _

That little bitch! No wonder she was all woe is me and calling foul. She saw how good they were together and knew she couldn’t measure up.

Watching as the voyeur finally left the closet and stared at the two of them intertwined on the bed, she noticed something else she probably would have missed had this place not drawn attention to it. He was awake and he was deliberately playing on Buffy’s insecurities.

What an ass.

At the same time she couldn’t really feel all that sorry for her, pervs deserved a little payback. What kind of a little freak watches her ex fuck someone else?  
The lights flickered as the scene changed again. What now?

It was her and Angel, she refused to think of him as Angelus even though in her heart she knew without a doubt who he was now, together in bed. She remembered it well, like she remembered each and every moment she spent with him. Only now she was seeing it from the outside and what she was seeing wasn’t something that she remembered at all. He was feeding on her, biting into her thigh, before she’d first offered herself.

Why was he doing that? Was she just some sort of convenient snack to him?

_“Do you really believe that? You know who he is, you had Giles tell you so much about him, does this seem like something he would do? He enjoys his mind games yes, but would he really feed on you without letting you know it had happened. Think Cordy, find the whole truth not just what’s easiest to see.”_

She was right, she needed to see everything. She needed to come to her own decision, make up her own mind, because once this little mind fuck was over she would have to face the real world again, and she really needed a game plan before that happened.

“Bring it on.”

Giles could not wrap his head around what Oz was telling him. After about ten minutes of discussing it at the library they had both decided to relocate to his apartment, less likely to be overheard. Could Willow do something like this? Could she have sat there as they tried to puzzle out a way to save Cordelia and said nothing if she had? It didn’t seem like the quiet mild mannered girl he had come to know over the year of their acquaintance.

“Could she do this?” He didn’t know why he was asking Oz other than that the young man was probably the one most likely to know besides Xander.

“To Cordelia.” His answer was short and too the point, and accurate. It was most likely that had it been anyone else involved the answer would have been no, but Cordelia was a sore point for nearly all of the teens involved. It was more than likely that Cordelia’s continued involvement with Angel had been the metaphorical tipping point.

“So what do we look for now?” They had been looking for the spell used by looking at the things her stalker had done so far, and trying to guess at what his intent would be now. It was no wonder they had so far come up empty handed if their entire assumption was wrong.

“Something went wrong, we need to find what she meant to do.”

Oz was right of course, it had been clear in hindsight that Willow had been greatly distressed by Cordelia’s predicament for reasons all her own. This had been a mistake so if they could suss out what it was she had intended to do instead finding the right spell would be so much easier.

“What had she intended?” Could a teenage boy and a middle aged English-man ever understand the working of the female teenage mind well enough to gain an answer to that question.

“Call Xander.” Quite right, they might not be able to puzzle it out, but Xander would most likely be able to do so with ease. Now the only question remaining, was would he help?

Buffy walked beside Angel in silence, she didn’t want to ruin this by seeming too enthusiastic. This had to seem like a comfort move, a natural path back to the goodness they used to have now that Cordelia was no longer in their way. She had to say something though, had to justify her being there, it wasn’t like he needed her protection.

“I’m sorry about this whole thing, we’ll find the guy that did this.” Best not to use her name, no need to bring **her** any more into this than she had to be. Plus she was the last thing he needed to be thinking about when she made her move.

“I know.” That was it, two words, that was all she got. Come on, it wasn’t like he was in mourning or anything, Cordelia was basically just taking a nap. If she played this right, when his precious Cordy finally woke up, it would be to find that the world order had been restored.

Angelus could practically see every thought as it flashed across her face, subtlety was not her strong suit. After being taught by Darla in the fine art of seduction, and more importantly taking advantage of a perceived weakness, watching this was just painful. If he decided to go with this and let it work to his advantage, he would really have to do most of the work, while making it seem like it was her idea in the first place.

If he left it to her, she would just lunge at him when her limited patience finally ran out. Oh, young people these days, no sense of style. If he played this just right, everything should fall into place easily. Buffy would lose her support system, the Scoobies would fall apart, and he would be free to play. He could hardly wait.

Cordelia could barely process everything she was seeing. She was seeing everything from a new angle and that was putting all the things she thought she knew on its head. The time she got all of her courage up and joined Angel in the shower, now she saw the faint pink tint to the water as it washed down the drain just when she was stepping in. Giles words from that Monday surrounded her, subdued yet somehow accusing.

_**“Saturday morning Buffy’s mother came outside to fetch the morning post and found their newlywed neighbors killed and left on their front steps.”** _

Found Saturday morning, which meant they’d been killed Friday night. That night.

Angel taking her in the stacks of the school library, one of the most daring things she’d ever done, but now she saw the look in his eyes and she knew. She knew that he had known that little miss likes to fight had turned into little miss likes to watch.

Her sex life had become a spectator sport without her knowledge or consent, and he had gotten off on it. Hell Buffy had gotten off on it. So much for her being all holier-than-thou. What a perv.

As she watched the images changed, they moved from her time with Angelus, to his past. She recognized some of it from the things that Giles had told her during their sessions together. Why would she need to see this? As the years of blood, pain, and depravity filled the wall and her mind, she couldn’t seem to make herself understand.

Xander stood in Giles apartment, he didn’t know what he’d expected to find in the older mans living space but this must have been pretty close. No t.v., no movies, no mess really as far as he could tell. This place was Giles, if Giles were a place instead of a person. Which made sense cause this was where the G-man lived. He was stalling he knew, he didn’t want to think such bad thoughts about his bestest bestie since forever, but the more G-man and wolf-boy talked the more sense it all made.

Willow was as against Cordelia as anyone ever could be, but ever since Cordy started hooking up with dead boy it had all jumped to a new level of hate. As far as Willow was concerned Angel was meant to be with Buffy and no one else, so she probably tried to do a spell to make that happen, to knock some sense into Angel about Cordy. Or to knock some sense into everyone.

“Yeah, I can see how this could have gone down. Wills was probably just trying to help Buffy out, she would never hurt anyone on purpose.” He looked Giles in the eye as he spoke, he needed them to understand that to believe it.

“We know that Xander, her intentions may have been pure, but the execution was likely skewed by her emotions. Ninety percent of magic is intent after all. If Willow tried to do something in regards to Cordelia, even if the intent of the spell was relatively harmless, her dislike of Cordelia would have warped whatever spell she attempted in unexpected ways.”

Yeah, he could see that happening, now they just needed to figure out a way to fix it.

“Well, knowing Wills, she probably was trying to get everything back to normal. Back to how it was before Cordelia crashed the scoobies.” Back before everything got so complicated.

“Before Angel left Buffy for her.” As always wolf boy hit the nail on the head. Exactly.

As the two began grabbing books, he turned towards the door. They could look all they wanted but the options were limitless, he knew that much from all the researching he’d done in the past. If they wanted answers he had a feeling he would need to get them from the source. Willow.

Angelus tried not to roll his eyes, even as out of it as the slayer was she’d probably notice that. After weeks of violating his adventurous little vixen, sticking it to this uptight princess was more a chore than anything. At least her inexperience was working in his favor, she had no idea just how uninterested he was in the entire act. As long as he kept his face buried in her neck, and resisted the urge to bite, she was content.

He kept his pace slow and steady, missionary all the way, making sure to keep the rhythm and repetition in line with what Angel had done with her before. That was what she wanted after all, proof that her Angel still loved her all the same. This would just solidify it in her mind that the only thing standing between her and her forever and ever with her soulmate was Cordelia. So when the others eventually found out about this, and took Cordelia’s side, she would react with all the venom she had in her. Sealing her fate, and locking her out of most if not all of the lives of those she calls her friends. She would be alone and ready for him then, and when the fun and games began no one would know where to turn for help, because they would be all so twisted around already. It would be glorious, and so much fun.

Buffy was in heaven, she was sure of it. She knew that Cordelia was just a distraction, the first chance he got her Angel came back to her, and it was just like it should be. Just like it was before. He treated Cordelia like the whore she was, but her, he treated her like the queen he longed for. Things were finally falling back into place, and it was glorious.

Cordelia sat huddled in the middle of the “room” and tried to rub the images behind her eyes away. Why did they show her all of this. It was one thing to hear about what Angelus was capable of, but seeing it was something else altogether.

“Why?” She knew the other her would answer. She always did.

_“Because seeing is believing. You would never have seen who he really was until you saw who he had been. Because you needed this.”_

_“Poor little kitten.”_ Looking up at the sound of the new voice she saw Drusilla standing behind the other her. _“Still doesn’t see what’s coming. Doesn’t see the ending. Can’t see the path ahead or behind.”_

As she spoke, her body swaying in time with something only she could hear, her hands came up around the body in front of her. Cordelia watched her mirror image lean back, nearly melting into the vampiresses lithe frame, as pale cold hands caressed her breasts. Her moans were nearly pornographic as she tilted her head to the side exposing her throat, offering it, begging to be bitten.

Her face morphed into her demon visage Drusilla leaned down to lick along the unbroken skin of her neck. Her smile winsome and distant, delight glowing in her eyes at the treat she was about to consume.

_“Poor little kitten, spitting and clawing at the truth, blind no more. Life is choice, life is change, life is blood. So choose.”_ Never breaking eye contact she leaned down and bit down hard. She could tell just from the sounds coming from her double that the bite alone was enough to make her cum. Wow. Other her was a bit of a bite whore.

“Choose what?” As she asked the question both women faded into the mist like they had never been there at all. Looking around wildly, she found no sign of them, until she felt cold hands slide around her neck from behind. Glancing over she was caught in the pale vampires dark gaze.

_“Choose us.”_

“I didn’t do anything, and I don’t know why you’re accusing me. And even if I did want to do something, it wouldn’t have been this something, so there!” Willow was pacing back and forth, across her bedroom, trying to get her point across. Unfortunately, it was a lost cause with Xander, he already knew the truth, now all he needed was the specifics.

“I know this wasn’t the something Will, but I also know that you did it. Screwing something up doesn’t automatically give you a free pass, I saw you today when Giles told us what happened with Cordelia, I know my Willow faces I know what you were thinking. Now, if you tell me what happened, what spell you used maybe we can fix this before it gets any worse. Cordelia doesn’t deserve worse.” In fact, in his newly changed opinion Cordelia deserved much better.

“Who are you to tell me what Cordelia deserves? She deserves everything that’s happened to her and more!”

“Why?” He knew resolve face, he knew how to get around it, logic. He had to break it all down and build it back up again so that Willow could see the flaw in her logic.

“Why what?” He watched his best friends eyes cloud with confusion and knew he was off to a good start.

“Why does she deserve all of this? Tell me what she did to deserve this.” Come on Willow, break it down for me so I can break it down for you.

“Well, she’s mean and… and vicious. She doesn’t care about anyone or anything but herself. She makes everyone around her miserable, and she… she wrecks everything.”

“So what you’re saying is that because she is self absorbed like most teenagers are, and because she rules the school by popular demand she deserves what’s been happening to her. You’re saying that teenage girls who ignore people and make those around them feel inferior deserve to be stalked and tormented. That sixteen year old cheerleaders who hook up with a single guy who’s already broken up with their girlfriend should be tortured and terrified for the rest of their lives. Wow, Will and here I thought you were against violence.”

Turning to leave he hoped he was doing the right thing, that leaving Willow to think things through on her own, without his judgment and knowing stare would get her to do the right thing and call Giles. He really hoped he was right, about her, about everything.

Willow didn’t know what to say, Xander was defending Cordelia. Instead of putting things back to the way they were before, it just made Xander defect to the other side. To Cordelia’s side.

Why would he do that? He was the President of the We Hate Cordelia Club, hell he was the founder of it. Then she remembered his face during the Scooby meeting, while he’d been watching her she’d been watching everyone, and she remembered that he was a little off. He looked angry and miserable, like when he was mad at himself for not doing better or being better at something. At the time she thought he’d been angry about the whole thing with Cordelia like she had been, but now that he was defending her she thought maybe it was something else.

What about the meeting could have changed him so drastically? Besides the research all that happened was that Giles gave an overview of the entire Cordelia mess, sans some of the more scandalous Angel related business. Was that it?

Could Xander have felt sorry for Cordelia? But why? She brought it on herself.

Didn’t she?

Maybe Xander was right, maybe she should think about what Cordelia did to deserve all of this. The stalking, the torture, the spell all of it. That would help strengthen her resolve, she just knew it. But when she started thinking about it, thinking about what was done to Cordelia first, she couldn’t come up with anything.

Sure the things that Cordelia did in school, and mainly to Buffy, were cruel but at their core they were petty and small. Nothing that deserved the hell that she had been through for the last few weeks. She had always been focusing more on why she hated Cordelia than what was actually happening to her now. All she kept thinking over the last few weeks was that finally Cordelia was getting some payback for all of her venom, she never really noticed that the punishment never fit the crime.

Now she felt even worse for adding to the mix of it all. Did this make her just as bad as the thing stalking Cordelia? Was she worse? Either way she knew what her first step had to be, she had to call Giles and tell him the truth. She had to admit her mistake and accept the consequences whatever they may be.

Cordelia couldn’t speak, the hand on her throat too constricting, but she knew she needed to answer. This was the end of her time in the mist, her answer was the only thing that could set her free. Her choice. The only problem was that she didn’t have an answer to give. She didn’t know what to choose.

_“Yes you do kitten. Your choice is simple. Wicked Daddy.”_ As she spoke over her shoulder flashed an image of Angelus feeding off of her other self. Her body writhing and twisting in ecstasy. Buffy just behind the pair looking forlorne and hurt. Her tears leaving tracks through the blood on her face.

_“Or Wimpering Angel.”_ Once more the image changed, this time Buffy and Angel were embracing, so lost in each other that they did not see her standing there alone. Her clothes in tatters and her hair a mess.

The choice was clear. When she woke she could either share what she’d learned, sending Angelus back within the confines of Angels cursed soul or she could keep it to herself letting Angelus remain free.

Telling was the obvious _right_ thing to do. This would spare the others, mainly Buffy, any more pain from his twisted games. He could be reunited with his love, and she with him. Of course if that happened it was more than likely that she would be forgotten, that Buffy would write her off as a mistake made by Angelus, and that would be the end of her in the Slayers mind.

Saving Angel, or bringing him back, wouldn’t undo the last few weeks. It wouldn’t give her back anything, it wouldn’t undo the trauma already done, all it would really do would be to take away the only person she had in her life to lean on. She would be alone.

While keeping silent, at least where the scoobies were concerned, would probably be the best thing for her. Knowing that Angelus was behind all the horrible things that had been done to her, that took a lot of the fear out of it. The main focus had been the unknown of it all, the idea that the monster stalking her could be anyone, that was what had nearly killed her. Now that she knew, and more importantly if she told him that she knew, that would be the end of it for her. It would be out of her hands, the choice would be his, he could kill her or keep her. Either way her peace of mind would be restored.

Plus, it was abundantly clear from the thing with her neighbors that Angelus would be gunning for Buffy, and THE SLAYER would be far more equipt to handle everything. As she had pointed out every single time, she was the chosen one and she beat everything that had come at her to date, she could beat this too.

Looking deep into Drusillas eyes she knew what she would choose, and it was clear that the vampire knew it too. Turning her head to the side she closed her eyes and waited for the fire of fangs in flesh. She might be making the wrong choice, but it was really the only choice she could make anymore. She was already too broken to be a selfless do gooder. She just couldn’t.

As the fire took hold of her, her eyes flew open and she bolted up gasping for air.

“Cordelia?”

“Giles.”


	14. Waking Nightmares, Sleeping Dreams

  


  


Giles sat in his chair, trying not to stare at the young woman on his couch. They had been sitting there for two hours while he tried, unsuccessfully to reach Angel, and she had yet to speak a word. In fact he was fairly certain that she wasn't all together aware of where she was. This was the problem with bloody mind altering spells, the effects could linger, sometimes for days.

Slowly moving over next to her he decided to try once more to gain her attention, placing his hand gently on her shoulder.

“Cordelia?” His touch and the sound of his voice caused her to flinch away in fear. There seemed to be nothing he could do for her. Nothing.

Except, maybe he could do something about Angel. He knew where to man lived, and his phone was off the hook so he must be home. He had no idea if having Angel present would do anything at all, but he had to do something.

“Oz, please stay with Cordelia, I will be back as soon as possible.” Barely waiting for the younger man’s nod of assent he rushed out the door towards the Bronze, cursing the entire situations with every step he took. Everything was such a mess, he truly was not sure how they were all going to find their way through it.

Angelus subtly watched the slayer as she righted her clothes after their little tryst. Her face relaxed in a state of complete bliss, oh how he was going to enjoy destroying that.

“Look, Buffy. This can't happen again.” She turned towards him so fast he was surprised she didn't fall over. “This was a wrong, and it can't, no it _won't_ happen again.”

As her eyes began to fill with tears he marveled at how easily he could make her cry. She didn't even fully understand what he was talking about yet and still the water works began. When he was finally able to go at her full on he would be surprised if she didn't drown herself before he was done with her.

“What do you mean?” What was he saying, they were back together, weren't they. How could this have been wrong? No, it wasn’t wrong he was just feeling guilty or something, he was confused that was all.

“I'm with Cordelia now, last night things got out of hand, but I have to be there for her right now. She needs me.” The unspoken _you don't_ was heard loud and clear.

“So what you're saying is that you and me, _this_ , was a mistake.” She waited for him to deny it. For him to say that they were meant to be and tell her that this was just his guilt talking. She waited for him to reassure her that she was the one he really wanted to be with and that this thing with Cordelia would end as soon as she woke up from this spell she was under.

She waited for him to say anything, but he held his silence refusing to meet her eye.

She was about to try again, to make him see that they were each other’s eternity, when there was a knock at the door distracting them both. Strange, no one ever came here.

Angelus moved towards the door, already smelling the watcher on the other side of it, purposefully leaving his shirt only partially buttoned. Moving just enough so that the man would be able to see his still bed rumpled slayer just over his shoulder he pulled the door open slowly. This was going to be good.

“Oh good you are home-” Giles had begun talking as soon as the door to Angel's apartment began to open, but stumbled to a halt when he saw what was on the other side. Or rather who was on the other side. This could not be what it looked like he assured himself. His slayer would never be as cold and calculating as this, to use Cordelia's misfortune to attempt to regain her former place in Angel’s affections.

“Giles?” Hearing his name he pulled himself from his musings, he would think more on this new development later, once Cordelia was seen to. She was his priority at the moment.

“Cordelia has awoken, but she is in quite a state. I was hoping your presence might help to calm her.” Allowing Angel to rush past him he stared at Buffy for a moment trying to understand, trying to reconcile the two disparate images overlaying one another in his mind.

Shaking his head slightly he turned and made his way back towards his car, leaving Buffy alone with her tears.

Angelus wasn't sure what to expect when he made his way to Giles apartment. Drusilla had been vague on the details, just telling him that when it was over Cordelia would either accept him or she wouldn't. That she had a choice to make and that not even the stars knew how it would end.

When Oz let him inside he found his vixen sitting on the small couch slowly rocking back and forth trying to find some kind of comfort. He'd seen people do it again and again, it never really worked for long.

“She started doing that after Giles left to find you. She hasn't said anything since she woke up, we were kind of hoping you could maybe get a reaction, you are the only one of us she really trusts after all.” That was probably the most words he'd ever heard the werewolf speak, but he did have a point. Watching him fade as far into the background as he could to give the two some privacy he made his way towards his beautiful girl.

Sitting down next to her he noticed her rocking had stopped, and she leaned towards him without ever really looking up.

“Cordelia.”

Cordelia felt his hand on her shoulder and leaned into his touch. She had made her choice and he was her world now, she knew that this decision when it was discovered would alienate her from everyone else, but she didn’t care. 

None of the others, with the notable exceptions of late of Giles and Oz, really cared about her anyway. He did though, in his own twisted way, he cared. If he didn’t she knew now from his past that the mist showed her, he would have simply killed her after their first night together. No, he was doing all of this because she was special to him, she mattered to him. She would not throw that away to help people who on a good day simply ignored her, or thought her contributions to conversations not worth the air they took to say. 

“Take me home?” She would show him, tomorrow she would show him where her loyalties lay. For tonight though, she was simply too tired to do anything but rest her body against his. He would take her home and look after her, she knew he would. Tomorrow her new life would begin, her life with Angelus.

Giles sat in at his desk after Angel took Cordelia home and Oz had made his own way out and thought about their varied problems. There wasn't much to be done about a good deal of it at the moment.

Cordelia's main assailant was still as yet unidentified, and did not seem to be keen to come out of the shadows any time soon.  
Buffy's seeming indiscretion with Angel while troubling to him was not his concern at the moment. He had no proof other than supposition of what he thought may have been going on between the two before his arrival, and any unfounded accusations may even prove more detrimental to the collective health of their little rag-tag group.

Their group its self was still fractured, though the sides seemed to continually be shifting. Xander for one seemed to be waffling from one side to the other unsure of where his loyalties should lie with his conscience seemingly firing at random.

The one problem he did have some measure of control over was Willow. Her abuse of magic made it beyond clear to him that she, while powerful and full of potential; was not ready for the responsibilities that magic entailed. When he had first learned of her talents he had believed that her mature nature in regards to all other aspects of her life would carry over to her Wiccan one. He knew now that assumption was erroneous. While she was well beyond her years in many ways, having the ability and power to manipulate others to her will was too great for her to wield at this time in her life.

Knowing there was only one recourse to be taken, he picked up the phone to call the Devon Coven and ask for their advice and aide. If Willow was indeed not prepared for these powers and the consequences of using them then the only alternative would be to take them from her, if only for a while. 

While at times he found it unethical to bind a witches powers without first giving them a chance to rectify their mistakes, he also knew that Willows animosity towards Cordelia and her reasons for enacting this spell in the first place would not wane anytime soon. To prevent further harm towards Cordelia he must break trust with Willow, and considering what the poor dear had already endured, that was a choice he felt honor bound to make. For them all.

Buffy sat in her room and tried not to cry. How could it all have gone so wrong? It was supposed to be simple, Angel was supposed to remember how great they were together, and he was supposed to understand that _they_ were epic. Not him and Cordelia, _them_. He was her happy ending and she was his, but somehow every single time she pulled him back to her even a little bit _Cordelia_ would snap her fingers, spread her legs, and have him back with her before she could blink.

Why couldn’t that spell have lasted just a little bit longer? She knew that if they had been able to properly talk about what Angel meant by what he said, and why he’d said it, they could have worked everything out. Cordelia wouldn’t have even been an afterthought for him then, but now that the spell was broken she was his world all over again. 

There had to be a way take make him see her for who she really was, a backstabbing bitch who didn’t deserve him. Maybe Willow could help her come up with a new plan, a way to get around Cordelia and the hold she still had over Angel. 

Decision made Buffy finally closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep, tomorrow was the last day of school before the break and since Cordelia wasn’t going to be there her and Willow would have the whole day to figure out what to do next. There had to be a next move, there just had to be. 

Oz sat in his van and tried to remember what he had seen in Willow in the first place, because whatever it was it wasn’t evident now. She was hurting people, physically, emotionally, and mystically. Or well she was hurting Cordelia. Shaking his head he decided he would wait, keep his distance over break, and see how he felt about things when everything was all said and done. 

He loved Willow, if he was honest he probably always would, but he wasn’t sure he liked her anymore. Now he just needed to take this time to work out what was more important, love or respect. Maybe he could talk to Giles about it, see if the older man could shed some light where for him only darkness lived. Starting his baby he headed home with a heavy heart and even heavier mind.

While the inhabitants of Sunnydale where all trying to see their way through the mire their lives had become, a small dark skinned woman was stepping out of the belly of a plane taking her first strides towards her new temporary home. She was here to do her duty, and nothing and no one would stand in her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N – Now that that's all done there's something I wanted to go over real quick. I will not have Angel's POV of Angelus' actions until the curse is restored. The way I look at it, Angelus is still in Angel's mind because it is his body but once the curse is lifted Angel is gone, no longer there to be trapped because he is the product of the curse and can't exist without it. And don’t worry Cordelia will not just become some puppet whose strings Angelus can pull, she’s stronger than that and we will see more of her strong sassy self, just as soon as she can pull herself back together a little bit.


	15. Chapter 15 - Rising Power, Falling Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cordelia makes her allegiances clear while Willow faces the consequences of her actions.

  


Giles sat in the library, the books he was meant to be cataloguing forgotten on his desk, trying and failing to find a solution to Cordelia’s problem. While he may not be able to help her with her social issues with regards to the group, he felt certain that if he could somehow help her with her pursuer they would all be able to breathe easier. Hearing the door to the library swing open he stood expecting to find Buffy or even Cordelia waiting for him, he was not ashamed to admit that finding Kendra standing before him left him slightly flat footed. After the incident with Spike the other slayer had returned to her home country, presumably never to be seen again, yet for some reason she had once again made the journey to Sunnydale.

“Kendra, to what do I owe this honor?” Taking a deep calming breath he prepared himself to deal with whatever dark tidings followed the girl all the way from Jamaica.

“My watcher tells me all the signs indicate that a very dark power has risen in Sunnydale. One that in time will threaten us all.” The girl stood straight, her hands behind her back, looking every inch the soldier. Removing his glasses he rubbed at the ache behind his eyes as the weight of the world seemed to crash back down upon his shoulders.

“Did your watcher give you any details, any ideas about what this darkness may be?” It was unlikely, the signs that Sam Zabuto favored were normally only a starting place. A signal that one should look closer, to see for themselves what was beginning to stir in the world around them. Last time the tidings had been in reference to Drusilla’s rising, this time it was likely to be something equally horrendous.

“It was unclear sir, only that whatever it may be it would involve a vampire of great strength. A Master of their kind.” Ah, a Master vampire in Sunnydale, how novel. Resisting the urge to pull out his own hair he began to gather his books. He would need to send the Slayers out tonight to try to find some sort of clue about what this dark power could be. If it was in regards to a vampire Willy’s would be the most likely starting point.

Once school was over for the day he would begin the daunting task of corralling all of the children together to begin researching this newest threat. Oh what fun. Perhaps he could convince Ms. Calendar to join them, a sort of secondary buffer so he was not left to tend to them all on his own.

Angelus laid stretched out on Cordelia’s bed and waited. They had spent the night before with her wrapped in his arms, her body pressed as close to his as she could get, and now that morning had come it seemed her catharsis was at an end. They made slow orgasmic love to one another the moment her eyes had opened, and now she had sequestered herself in the bathroom saying something about a surprise for him. Whatever it was, he knew he would enjoy it, as he has enjoyed everything else involving his vixen since the moment he’d laid eyes on her.

Whatever decision she’d been forced to make by the spell had obviously gone in his favor. Hearing the door open he glanced towards his darling girl and froze, oh my, in his favor indeed. There in the doorway stood his vixen in all her glory, in the sexiest nun costume he’d ever seen. As she crawled up his body, her smile permanently in place, he noticed her rosary. Only hanging from the end of it rather than a crucifix was a small ruby red angel pendant. He loved it!

“What are you doing Vixen?” As her lips ghosted over his own, he heard her whispered words rocking through his whole body like a caress.

“What’s the matter Angelus, I thought you liked nuns.” She remembered, when she hadn’t said a word last night and had willingly fallen into step beside him he’d thought she’d likely forgotten about the revelation of his identity. This was so much better, not only did she remember, she was showing him exactly whose side she was on. She was showing him who she belonged to.

Deciding that he had stayed passive long enough he rolled them both over, his naughty girl trapped beneath him. He smiled down at her as his hands roamed over her entire body, marking his territory, declaring his ownership.

“Say my name.” He thrust deep into her waiting heat, one stroke seating him completely.

“Angelus!”

Willow sat in the library listening to Buffy tell her all about her night with Angel. Giles had given them all research assignments, most of it really being information gathering, to help identify the newest threat to come to their town. Buffy couldn’t do hers just yet, having to wait for Kendra to come back from some errand that she’d been sent on by her watcher, so instead she caught her and Xander up on the latest in the love triangle of the century.

Now that she knew that breaking the spell had caused Buffy so much hurt, if it had only lasted a little while longer everything would have worked out for the best, she regretted doing it even more now. Like she didn’t have enough guilt heaped onto her by Xander and Giles already, Oz wouldn’t even talk to her. He’d gone so far as to skip out on this Scooby meeting saying that he needed space to think about things. Space away from her!

How could things have gone so wrong so quickly? How could one little spell have caused so much damage? Now Buffy wanted her help to come up with a way to get Angel away from Cordelia long enough for them to have the talk that the spells breaking had interrupted. Only for the first time in a long time she didn’t have any answers to give. It would take a hell of a lot of leverage to pry Angel and Cordelia apart so soon after the spell, leverage that they simply didn’t have.

While they might be able to get the two of them apart, there was really no reason for Buffy and Angel to be alone together. Before they could have used the excuse of needing more muscle for a mission or something, but right now with Kendra in town that wouldn’t fly with anyone. If they used the excuse of needing his help with research then he would probably just bring Cordelia with him and even if by some miracle, he didn’t it wasn’t all that likely that Giles would give the two of them much privacy to have a lengthy discussion about where they stand now. Not after nearly walking in on the two of them before.

Watching her best friend wander away to try and find her sister slayer she shook her head in defeat, for the first time since this whole mess started she was beginning to worry about Buffy and Angel. While she still believed, they were epic and meant to be together, she was beginning to think that maybe they were going to be one of those couples that has to scale mountains to find each other on the other side, and Cordelia Chase is one hell of a mountain.

Xander sat across from Willow flipping aimlessly through book after book, not really seeing any of the information and thankfully also blocking out most of the illustrations. Yuck. There really wasn’t that much to look for without some more specific details, so instead his mind was engulfed in the tragedy that he’d just witnessed. Buffy and Willow were still going after Cordelia, even after everything that had gone wrong so far, it was like they had learned nothing from the whole spell misfire.

For the first time in his entire adolescent life he was actually disgusted by the people he’d come to care for more than family. His good caring Willow shaped friend who cried over broken crayons was actively seeking to hurt another living soul. Even if that someone was Cordelia that didn’t make it right.

At first when it was just a rousing game of giving her a taste of her own medicine and ignoring her it was fine, not that he hadn’t regretted that bitterly after the whole situation had been explained, but still it had just been normal teen hijinks. Then when Cordelia’s new found connection to Angel had come to light everything had started to take a turn for the ugly. Ignoring her soon became actively attacking her, if only verbally, even then though he could justify it to himself this was Cordelia after all, if anyone could hold their own in a war of words it would be her. Hell ninety percent of the time she was the one winning those sparing matches anyway, always sneaking in the final biting remark, drawing first blood. Until finally the spell had been cast and that’s when harmless and ugly somehow morphed into spiteful and cruel.

It was one thing going after Sunnydale High’s reigning Queen when she was able to defend herself, but kicking her while she was down and out went beyond even Queen C levels of horrible. The second that spell dropped her they should have all rallied with good intentions to help, putting this petty feud on hold until her royal highness was back to fighting form.

Instead Willow held back information, only giving it up once she was well and truly caught, leaving Cordelia in that state of limbo for far longer than necessary. Buffy, rather than helping, decided it would be a better use of her time to try and further her relentless campaign to reunite with her honey. That last part wouldn’t have bothered him so much except for how she went about it. It was one thing to talk to the guy reminiscing about the good old days, getting him buttered up for a hostile takeover when the playing field was level once more, but to sleep with a guy while your rival in down is just somehow far more cold and calculating than he wanted to admit to right now.

Now though, after listening to round ninety eight of the lets break up Angel and Cordelia war council he was once again on the ropes about what to do. Half of him was screaming that Willow and Buffy were his friends and as such he should be sticking with them through thick and thin, good decisions and bad. At the same time though a louder half was screaming that after everything else that’s happened Cordelia didn’t deserve the good guys plotting against her too.

Giving up before his brain exploded he decided to take this decision to a higher power for a fair and just ruling. Giles.

Kendra stood before the woman with two names, known here as Jenny Calendar, and finally finished explaining who she was and why she had sought the woman out. While her watcher had not known the nature of the threat against the Hellmouth, he had seen a glimpse of this woman at the center of it. Whatever was going on this gypsy had a hand in it, if only indirectly. Unfortunately, the woman seemed to be as lost and in the dark as the rest of them, leaving her with no other recourse than to go with her fellow slayer to try to see what clues they could uncover. Hopefully something they found would strike a chord for the woman, because even if she didn’t think she knew what was going on here, that didn’t mean that she truly didn’t know. It was truly amazing the things that people didn’t realize they knew until it was nearly too late to be of any use.

Angelus watched Cordelia as she rode him, her pace steady and just as he liked it, she was a fast learner. Her entire get up had long since been discarded, save for a stunning ruby angel that hung between her succulent breasts and swayed with every motion of her hips. Now that his Vixen was truly by his side, he could finally focus all of his energy on the Slayer. Time for his real fun to begin.


End file.
